


Mystery

by Avalain_Nightshade



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Action/Adventure, Canon Compliant, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Original Female Character(s) - Freeform, POV Third Person Limited, Pre-Canon, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-17
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 23:14:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 76,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29517249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avalain_Nightshade/pseuds/Avalain_Nightshade
Summary: Yavena was never one to shy away from a mystery. She's always wondered about the world and the Titans beyond. There are so many questions that need answering: what the Titans are, what lies farther outside the Walls than even the Scout Regiment was able to see, why the Titans hunt humankind the way that they do. Despite being rather solitary, Yavena has always loved the process of gaining someone's trust, being allowed to unravel their walls layer by layer, piece by piece: being allowed to see who they are at their very core. And she may have just been accepted into the squad of the most mysterious man she's ever met.(A story that begins pre-canon, but will eventually shift into canon-material. Depending on how S4 plays out, I may or may not also dive into AU territory with or without Marley involved as well!)(Chapters are written far in advance. We've already got 260k words in a Word Document and counting!)
Relationships: Eren Yeager & Original Female Character(s), Erwin Smith & Original Female Character(s), Hange Zoë & Original Female Character(s), Levi Ackerman/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 43
Kudos: 44





	1. -Prologue-

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone, I just wanted to say welcome to my story. I hope you enjoy; I just finished binging all of Attack on Titan and my soul has been utterly consumed by the show and this project for the last month, and I just thought to post it into the vast Internet webs.
> 
> I also just want to have a quick mention that I am still learning and researching as much as I can about the world-state! As a non-manga reader I'm at a bit of a disadvantage, but hopefully that's all right. I will say in advance that I've changed some locations/details to canon, although normally I do try to be as faithful to the published material as possible. :)
> 
> Anyway, that's pretty much it. Thank you and have a great day!

* * *

_Yavena had never been one to shy away from mystery. Most of the world was a mystery in and of itself. There was so much about the world that was unknown… anything that lay before or beyond Wall Maria, for example._

_Wall Maria was large enough for most people, but not for Yavena. She had grown up reading stories of love and science, mystery and politics… but her favorites had always been stories of adventure. They were the simplest and most satisfying of all: there were heroes and villains, victories and defeats, friendships and sacrifice. And best of all, the worlds in those stories seemed so much larger than what Yavena had been given to live her life in._

_In a way, some of those stories reminded her of her own world… particularly the victories and defeats. She always thought of the Scout Regiment with those words… and she thought of her parents, Louis and Vanessa Verman, who were part of its branch._

_"These books must be kept secret, Yavena," said Louis one day when Yavena wished to take her reading outside. "You cannot speak of them to anyone, or we will all be in trouble. Keep these stories for yourself while taking what you wish from them, like a secret only you and your mother and I can know."_

_Yavena had never been one to shy away from fear. Her parents had told her at a very young age about the dangers that accompanied the allure of the outside world. They told her of beautiful forests, lush and green, filled with animals and flowers: deer, rabbits, berries of all kinds. They told her of birds, colorful and free, and how many formations they flew in the sky. They told her of waterfalls—spouts of water that cascaded down cliff-sides, some taller than the Walls themselves, and the raucous noise they made._

_And they told her of Titans: large monsters in the general likeness of men, who ate humans not to survive, but because they liked it… and that those Titans were constantly arrayed just outside of Wall Maria, ready to kill and eat any unfortunate human who strayed into their grasp._

_"The real world is different than in your stories," Louis Verman had said. "It is beautiful, yes, but it can also be cruel. You must understand this, Yavena. In this world… some victories cannot be won without sacrifice."_

_Her parents told her of their missions. They spoke of comrades they had lost; they did not hide her mother's missing leg. They showed her their wounds and taught her how to tie a tourniquet, how to handle a knife, how to find healing herbs were she ever to be caught in the wild._

_"You never know what can happen," said Vanessa, as she revealed how deep some of her scars and bite-marks ran. "It is our job to prepare you for the world, dear girl. And the world will not hold back for you."_

_Yavena had never been one to shy away from duty. She saw the way the Scouts held themselves; the way they always planned out mission after mission, no matter the status of the one that preceded it. She knew that her mother and father were responsible people; that they held their duty to humanity above everything else, save perhaps for herself._

_But even on that, Yavena was not sure. Many nights she wondered: if her parents had to choose between herself and saving the world from Titans, what would they choose?_

_She hoped they would choose the world._

_Yavena had never been one to shy away from a challenge. At twelve years of age she signed up for the Cadet Corps, saying farewell to her Aunt Dorothea with whom she had grown up, in favor of chasing adventure and duty. She wanted to be like her parents, to be in the Scout Regiment—her uncle Kitt was in charge of the Cadet Corps, and he encouraged her to enlist with the Military Police._

_"You are an excellent soldier," he had said, with a heavy hand on Yavena's shoulder. "But the Scout Regiment has many great soldiers already. I do not want to outlive my only niece."_

_But Yavena was not persuaded. Her dreams of adventure, her longing to fulfill a noble duty, her wish to make her parents proud, was too great._

_And so she trained and trained, longing to be great. Yavena did not want preferential treatment. She wanted to be great because she **was** great, not because she was a great man's niece._

_What Yavena **had** been one to shy away from was other people. She had never been good at making friends. She enjoyed the company of her books and her own thoughts. When she had been young, the neighborhood children skirted around her, always whispering about how she was the 'quiet' girl. When she had grown a little older, Yavena had ignored her Aunt Dorothea's insistence that she should meet some of the others who were playing tag in the dirty streets._

_But even so, almost impossibly… Yavena made a friend in the Cadet Corps._

_Hange Zoë was different, too. They showed a penchant for Titans rather than the hatred every other recruit kept in their heart. Hange was interested in learning more about them—they too were not one to shy away from a mystery. They also pursued adventure, albeit of a different sort._

_And when Yavena realized this, she decided that if there was ever a person to reach out to, it was Hange._

_As the years passed, Yavena and Hange realized how much of themselves they saw in the other: a desire to do something good for humanity, a longing to see what lay beyond the Walls, a passion for learning of the world they inhabited. The others that encompassed the 78th Division did not want much to do with either of them—but Yavena could not care less, for she had never been one to dwell on others' opinions of her._

_She had a friend, one whom she could confide in, and she was happy._

_It was the Year 837 that Hange and Yavena finished their training in the Cadet Corps. Both of them graduated in the top ten of their class, meaning that should they wish, they could enlist in the Military Police within Wall Sina, and live a comfortable life._

_They both refused, for neither of them would shy away from duty._

_And when her uncle Kitt asked her of where Yavena wished to go, she wasted no time in giving him the answer._

_There had always been whispers of the Scout Regiment. There had always been complaints that their entire branch was a waste: of resources, of good soldiers, of taxes._

_But Yavena knew that only in the Scout Regiment would she find all of the things she so desired—and so with her friend by her side, she chose to follow all of the things she idealized in childhood, and embrace the fear and grim responsibility that came with it._


	2. -Reconnaissance Mission 54-

* * *

Yavena was not in Shiganshina District in Year 845 when the Colossal and Armored Titans took down Wall Maria. She had been with the Scout Regiment outside the Walls, as a fresh Staff Sergeant alongside her friend and commanding Lieutenant Hange Zoë. She did not know of her hometown's fate until after they had returned, and it was Commander Pyxis of the Wall Garrison who took her aside and told her that his soldiers had been unable to save her Aunt Dorothea amidst the chaos. Yavena had been handed a silver brooch to signify her loss from Commander Shadies of the Scouts, and then sent with Hange to help the Wall Garrison evacuate the remaining civilians within Wall Maria.

It was the Year 846 that Yavena was sent on a reconnaissance mission alongside Hange, her mother—her father had died years ago—and the closed-off but incredibly skilled Captain Levi. There was a faint hope that the Scouts could learn something about the force of Titans that had invaded Wall Maria; a normal trip outside the Walls.

And, as normal trips tended to go, the Scouts were accosted by Titans. Yavena had survived almost ten years in the Scout Regiment by that point; she had earned her rank of Warrant Officer. But in that battle, she was cornered by a number of two or three meter Titans—and then her mother charged in to save her, and was eaten as the price.

Even so, Yavena considered herself blessed: unlike many of her comrades, she had been able to hear her mother's last words, which were, "Good luck, dear girl. You've made me proud."

Vanessa Verman did not scream when she was eaten. Perhaps it was because she found solace in her choice to save her daughter. Or maybe she was ready to see her husband Louis in the afterlife, if she even believed such things. It also could have been a final act of defiance, to let the Titan know she would not beg for her life.

Yavena did not know; nor would she ever.

In the Year 848, the Scout Regiment's forty-sixth reconnaissance mission went terribly wrong. It was the greatest defeat that the new Commander Erwin Smith had yet suffered—over one third of the Scout Regiment was decimated, including a decent number of senior officers.

In the past two years since she had lost her mother, Yavena had specifically trained herself to specialize in killing the smaller Titans: those classified as less than four meters tall. Many of her comrades wished to kill the larger ones, perhaps thinking that the larger the Titan, the larger the glory that awaited them should they fell such a beast.

But in that forty-sixth reconnaissance mission outside of Wall Rose, it was the smaller Titans that were killing so many of Yavena's compatriots. They were faster than the larger ones, and it was harder to use the omni-directional mobility gear against them due to them being smaller targets.

So it was that Yavena single-handedly killed eight of the two-dozen smaller Titans that were ravaging the Regiment, saving the life of Squad Levi member Eld Jinn in the process.

Commander Erwin awarded her with the rank of Lieutenant, and offered her a squad of her own to command… but Yavena refused.

"Thank you, Commander, for your praises and faith in me," she had said, saluting her superior as best as she was able. "But I have never been one to lead. I wait and watch, and support my comrades where I see it is needed."

Although it was clear that Erwin was surprised by her response, he agreed and respected her decision, his only requirements being that she continue to focus on killing smaller Titans, as there were not many Scouts with the same specialties as herself, and that she do what she can to protect Section-Commander Hange Zoë.

* * *

It was near the end of Year 849 that the Scout Regiment was launching its fifty-fourth mission outside of Wall Rose. Yavena was riding upon one of the Regiment's specially trained horses next to Hange—their destination was one of the Forests of Giant Trees. They intended to set up a supply base on their road towards Shiganshina, hoping to carve a pathway towards Wall Maria so it might be reclaimed. The forward scouting teams, however, reported an Abnormal Titan ahead.

According to the scouting teams, this Abnormal was larger than many ordinary Titans, perhaps a twenty-meter class. This meant it was likely that Captain Levi would have the situation in hand; then again, Abnormal Titans were called that for a reason… they could never be predicted.

"Do you think I should talk to Commander Erwin again today?"

Hange's voice distracted Yavena from her thoughts. She looked over to see her friend looking both hopeful and uncertain.

"About capturing a Titan?" she asked.

Hange nodded. "Aye."

Yavena eyed her friend carefully. Hange had grown restless with the fact that humankind knew next to nothing about the Titans. They had had a dream one night where the two of them had captured a Titan during one of the Scout Regiment's reconnaissance missions, and had never let the possibility rest since then.

The only problem was that Commander Erwin was less than persuaded by the proposition. He had told Hange countless times that the Scouts did not have the manpower to spare for such a risky operation. Yavena was uncertain if capturing a Titan was even possible for now; they were simply so brutish and bloodthirsty.

"Even if we capture a Titan, there is no guarantee we can hold it," Erwin had said, the first time that Hange had asked. "I will not lose more men inside the Walls. We have lost too many already."

But Hange had that look in their eye, one that Yavena recognized well. It was a look of determination—one that said the issue was far from over.

And so Yavena replied, "I think that should be up to you, Hange. You are Section-Commander, after all. Erwin is bound to at least listen to you."

"Pah. For all the good that does me."

Yavena said nothing. It was true that Hange's proposal was likely to go unnoticed again. In truth, Yavena worried that her friend's insistence might lead them to a demotion. She was the newest Section-Commander of the four that Erwin had entrusted to be his 'right-hand men.'

Instead of dwelling on that concern, Yavena chose to look over the horizon. They were surrounded by plains of tall grass, with large trees in the distance. She found herself remembering some of the stories her father had given her, the ones he'd said she needed to keep secret—and she could not help wondering what else there could be, far off beyond the Walls.

"You are always so quiet," Hange groaned, once again drawing Yavena's attention. "It is hard to tell you about all of my plans when your mind is a million leagues away."

Yavena chuckled somewhat and glanced back at Hange, for this was not the first time her friend had griped about Yavena's rather introverted nature. But to placate them, she only said, "Well, Hange, I am listening now. Let me hear of your ideas."

Hange's face lit up, and they immediately began to tell Yavena of their ploys to lay a trap for a smaller Titan. They talked about the possibility of one being lured into a cage, or if that didn't work, a heavy mesh netting of iron that could pin one against Wall Rose.

"Of course, it would be easiest if we could just get one here," Hange sighed, adjusting the glasses upon their face. "Then I could begin my experiments right away."

Yavena's stomach churned at the mention of the word 'experiments,' but she knew her friend well enough to know she was expected to inquire further. She was about to open her mouth to ask for further detail—never mind the queasy stomach—on Hange's experiments when a familiar voice said, "I'd be careful if I were you, Hange. You'll make Yavena lose her lunch."

Up rode Petra, one of Captain Levi's personal squad. As always, she was wearing a smile upon her face. Yavena didn't know how Petra was always so upbeat, but she could respect the effort it must've taken to always be positive.

Hange laughed at Petra's comment and said, "Nonsense! She'll be fine, she's been listening to my spiels for years on end."

Yavena nodded at this, for this much was true.

Before Petra could respond, Olou appeared next to them. He could always be found wherever Petra was—it was obvious to everyone that he fancied her, although Petra was either too naïve, too oblivious, or too annoyed by Olou's attempts to imitate Captain Levi to care.

"Telling Yavena more of your stories, Hange?" said Olou, grinning somewhat. "How will we be capturing a Titan this time, then? Will you be scolding it into a cage like a nagging mother?"

Hange's eyes flared as they said, "I won't even bother telling you, Olou. You wouldn't be able to keep up."

Petra began to laugh as Olou shot her a dirty look. It was well known that Captain Levi's nickname for him was 'Air Head.'

Olou scowled and opened his mouth, likely to berate Petra for laughing. This only made Yavena groan and throw a hand to her forehead. It was far too early in the morning to begin listening to their bickering…

"Don't start," snapped Eld's voice. Yavena removed the hand from her forehead and glanced over to see that he and Gunther had joined the other members of Levi's squad. She was relieved for it—Eld always knew how to keep everyone in check. "The sun's not even up yet. Save your squabbles for the ride home."

Both Petra and Olou frowned at this, but they were silent.

Yavena exhaled in relief, which caught Eld's attention. His eyes were warm as he regarded her, and Yavena found herself watching him curiously.

Eld seemed to notice this; a smile fought its way onto his face as he saluted her and issued the command for the others of Squad Levi to return to their riding formations. They wasted no time in following Eld's orders, as he _was_ the second in command for their squad.

The moment that they were gone, Hange nudged Yavena with their shoulder and squealed, "Oooh, I think he likes you!"

"Who?" Yavena asked, already wishing that Hange would drop the issue.

Hange just laughed. "Who else but tall, blond, and handsome?"

Yavena considered this for a moment. Eld was a good man, that was to be certain. He was skilled, intelligent, and resourceful; after all, he had over forty-five confirmed kills on Titans, which was almost as many as Yavena had. He had always been kind to her as well… and he was only five years younger than herself, which wasn't too bad…

"You're thinking about it," said Hange in a sing-song tone, which immediately made Yavena frown.

"Not anymore I'm not," she sighed.

But that was not quite true. Yavena _was_ still thinking about Eld—though not necessarily in a romantic way. If she were to consider him as a partner, there was something missing from him that she wished for…

Yavena had never been one to shy away from mystery. And as kind and honorable a man as Eld was, it was rather easy to see who he truly was underneath.

The Forest of Giant Trees gradually began to appear over the horizon, signaling that it was almost time for the Scouts to stop and begin setting up their supply base in the long-abandoned village beside the forest. Yavena kept an eye to the sky for any smoke signals from Commander Erwin, trying to ignore the familiar feeling of ice running through her veins.

It was only ten minutes later that the command was given to disembark so a few of the Scouts could go forth and see what awaited the rest of them in the forest. They had reached that abandoned village on the border of the forest: their destination for setting up the new supply base. The downside of the location was that some of the foliage was so thick, it'd be hard to spot a Titan in the trees.

"Hange!" called Commander Erwin. He was standing next to Section-Commander Miche and Captain Levi, the latter of whom was watching both Hange and Yavena with a cool indifference. It was obvious they wished to formulate a plan, especially now that the sun had come up and Titans were able to move again.

Yavena exchanged a look with her friend, although all she said was, "Good luck," before turning away and beginning to unload the supply wagons.

Fifteen minutes ticked by. Yavena worked hard to place rations and weapons in the village storerooms, although she _also_ watched the woods beyond. She had not forgotten that somewhere in those trees was an Abnormal Titan.

Even though she knew Hange would wish to capture it, Yavena was hoping they would be able to just kill it, here and now.

Suddenly, there was the whirring of the mobility gear, and a familiar voice was saying, "Oye. Pumpkin Head."

Yavena set down the crate of rations she was carrying and looked to the side, trying not to groan upon seeing that it was Olou. She shot him a forceful glare and scoffed, "Tch. Where, exactly, did you receive permission to call me that?"

"Captain Levi does it all the time."

This was true. Although Yavena was not part of Levi's Special Operations squad, she had been on enough missions under the man's command that he had begun calling her by a nickname, the same way that he called Hange 'Four-Eyes.'

The nickname, however, was tolerated solely when used by Captain Levi: and so Yavena narrowed her eyes and muttered, "The only reason I let him say it is because he is my superior officer, and I sadly cannot tell him to eat a brick."

"Better a brick than a pumpkin," said Levi's voice—Yavena jolted and turned around to see none other than the Captain himself leaning against the wall behind her. Seeing that he had startled her, an amused light filled his silver eyes. "Erwin would like you to join us."

Levi did not wait for Yavena's response before using his gear to return to where the Commander was standing.

She waved a halfhearted farewell to Olou before following the Captain, admittedly proud of the fact that her presence had been requested. While Yavena had been working in close quarters with Erwin for years, she was not one of his highest-ranking officers, meaning that audiences with him were few.

Once Yavena arrived, Erwin nodded towards her and said, "Lieutenant. I'm sending you and Squad Levi to scout forward in the forest. Gunther, Petra, and Olou will discover how many Titans there are in the next four leagues and report back here. You, Levi, and Eld will attempt to locate where the Abnormal Titan is hiding."

"Aye!" Yavena said, saluting the Commander. She hoped this meant he had noticed how well she was able to maneuver with the omni-directional gear; she had always been one of the stealthier soldiers when it came to scouting and securing areas for supply bases.

"Avoid combat wherever you can," said Erwin. His blue eyes seemed to bore directly into her soul. "Be very careful; it is not out of range of possibilities that the Abnormal has surrounded himself with other Titans. If the Abnormal begins chasing you back to this encampment, fire a black smoke signal. We shall be ready for it."

Yavena nodded and maintained her salute. The ice running through her blood morphed into fire—if this was some sort of test, she would be sure to ace it.

Commander Erwin nodded too. "Be back in two hours. If you cannot find the Abnormal Titan, we shall return to Wall Rose."

As soon as he was done speaking, Levi gestured to where Eld was standing atop one of the large tree's branches. He did not spare a glance in Yavena's direction before joining his second in command.

Someone clapped a hand onto her shoulder—it was Hange, whose smile was the slightest bit forced as they said, "Don't die."

Knowing that Hange could use the encouragement, Yavena pressed a genuine smile upon her face. "I won't," she promised. "I'll be back."

Yavena clasped a hand over Hange's, squeezed it, and moved to follow the two men to the above branch.

The moment she arrived, Levi turned towards his second in command and said, "Eld. The three of us are to find where the Abnormal is cowering. We must report back in two hours, and avoid combat if we can."

Eld grunted in affirmation, making one last check over his gear.

Levi turned back to Yavena. His silver eyes were cold and uninviting as he regarded her. "Don't mess this up, Pumpkin Head."

Yavena was unfazed by the unfriendly demeanor of Captain Levi. She had grown quite used to his taciturn nature by this point, having served in close proximity to him for the last six years. Most people were turned away by his personality; some even declared that he hardly seemed like 'Humanity's Greatest Soldier' that they'd heard so many legendary things about.

But Yavena chose to see it differently. His emotional walls merely added to the mystery; he did not turn her away, he intrigued her.

"Why do you call me that?" Yavena sighed, summoning all of her internal strength to not roll her eyes at the Captain.

Levi raised an eyebrow. "Is it not obvious?" He gestured loosely to her hair before once more using his omni-directional gear to head off into the forest.

Both Eld and Yavena stood for a split second, watching him go. But then Eld cleared his throat and muttered, "For what it's worth, I think your hair is lovely," before following after his Captain.

Even though Eld was not quite a mystery that she so loved unraveling, Yavena could not keep the corners of her lips from turning upward. Unwilling to be left behind, she swiftly pursued the two men already so far into the forest.

Thanks to nearly fourteen years of survival in the Scout Regiment, Yavena considered herself a master at utilizing the omni-directional gear and was thus able to catch up to them quickly. Past a glen and a number of trees, she could see Petra, Gunther, and Olou… but that was only for a short time being, as they began to split off towards the east and west, leaving Levi, Eld, and herself the south.

The first few minutes passed in silence, with each of the three soldiers peering intently through the thickets of the forest. It was easy to use the gear here, at the very least—but the same atmosphere made it entirely likely that a surprise could be waiting for them further in the woods.

"Titan at our two o'clock," murmured Levi.

Eld and Yavena looked in that direction: sure enough, there sat a Titan upon the ground. It did not seem to have noticed them, at least. Yavena noted that it was quite average in size, perhaps around six to seven meters tall.

Even as she was making these observations, however, the Titan seemed to catch the scent of them. Its ginormous brown eyes widened and turned unmistakably in their direction—with a speed that Yavena hadn't thought possible, it began to pursue them through the forest.

"I've got it," Levi said. He seemed more annoyed than alarmed by its presence, his nonchalant attitude as prominent as ever.

The Captain took a quick detour, using the cables of his gear to turn in the direction of the beast. He easily evaded a slow swipe of the Titan's hand and thrust his blades into the Titan's neck.

In only a few seconds, the Titan's corpse was sizzling upon the ground, and Levi was back by Yavena's and Eld's sides. Now, however, he was glaring at some of the Titan blood upon his knuckles.

Yavena reached into her jacket pocket and handed him a handkerchief.

Levi took it, and swiftly wiped his hands clean. Upon handing it back to her, he said, "Much appreciated, Pumpkin Head."

"You're welcome, Clean Freak."

Yavena felt the death glare that Levi was giving her bury into her skull. For a split second, she figured that she might've finally overstepped her luck—but then Eld burst into laughter, and Levi only sighed and shook his head before miraculously deciding to ignore the jibe.

"Is it so bad to like things to be clean?" Levi asked, taking the lead while once more scanning across the horizon.

Yavena laughed somewhat. "No, actually, I'm a bit the same. But I had to think of _something._ You've been calling me 'Pumpkin Head' for the last four years. I don't know if I've ever heard you use my first name."

"Tch," scoffed Levi, and that was all he said on the matter.

The trio continued on for another half-hour, knowing that soon they would have to turn back around in order to return to Commander Erwin within the allotted two-hour timeframe. During that time, they had only spotted two more Titans, one of which Eld had killed, the other of which Captain Levi took care of. While Yavena was hoping there would be one more for her to buff her _own_ kill-count—her number had been resolutely stuck on fifty-seven for the last two expeditions—she'd never had much good luck.

"Halt here," Levi finally said, choosing a particularly large tree to take refuge upon.

Both of the others obeyed and stood next to him.

With his familiar scowl upon his face, the Captain muttered, "It seems that the Abnormal may have moved past this forest. Either that or the forward scouting team is blind. We should begin to head back to—"

"Captain!" Yavena exclaimed in a hushed whisper, pointing behind them.

Both Levi and Eld turned around to see what she was gesturing towards: the tree next to them was shaking—almost imperceptibly—but still shaking.

Levi held up a silent hand, a clear order for neither of the other two to do anything. He took a step forward, glancing at the movements of the tree.

"It's here," he said. His voice was low. "But there are no tracks. It's still cowering… Eld, can you find it?"

"Aye," Eld said, taking care to emulate the same hush that had been in his Captain's tone. "I can find it."

He used his gear to descend to the ground and look for any telltale sign of the Abnormal. Yavena kept herself perched on her branch, staring at the tree… it might've just been her imagination, but as she watched it, the shaking of its branches seemed to be getting worse…

Something made her spare a look back at Levi. He was peering around the forest as well, looking for any sign of the Abnormal. He was so wrapped up in his search that he didn't notice something approaching him from above—

"Levi!" Yavena shouted. The cables of her gear embedded themselves in a nearby tree; she flew directly towards him and threw them both off the branch.

The Abnormal Titan's hand clasped around thin air; unmistakable _cracks_ and _creaks_ split the silence. Yavena knew what that sound was. It was the sound of a Titan tearing down trees while it pursued its prey.

When Yavena glanced back to the Abnormal, she saw it descending from its hiding spot in the forest canopy. It was _definitely_ in the twenty-meter class; its limbs were long and gangly, and its pitch black eyes were trained unmistakably upon her and Levi.

As soon as she locked eyes with it, the Titan leapt elsewhere through the trees. Yavena exhaled sharply and looked towards Levi, who had been watching its movements with narrowed eyes. Breathless, she asked, "Captain? Orders?"

A long limb dove down towards the branch that Yavena had been standing on—she yelped and barely managed to evade its meaty hand. If her reflexes had been any slower, she was rather sure she would've been grabbed.

There was a deafening _BANG._ Yavena looked towards the sky to see a black smoke signal had been fired through the air.

"Retreat," Levi finally said, sheathing the signal launcher. "We thought we'd have an advantage here, but it seems this is _his_ territory. The village will be a better place to fight it."

Yavena and Eld wasted no time in beginning their escape, though the Titan was directly on their heels. This one almost seemed more intelligent then abnormal; it had attempted to lay a trap to find its meal, and now it was proving that it could leap through the branches of the tree like a damned rope-swing.

As they flew through the trees, Yavena glanced over her shoulder every now and then. She was glad that Levi had called the order to retreat, because it was obvious the Titan was comfortable here. While she was semi-sure the Captain could've just killed it should he wished, the fact that he had called a retreat instead of an attack made her wonder if he had other plans for it.

"You'd think a big bastard like that would make the trees split in half, eh?" Yavena called with a smirk.

Although Eld laughed at this, Yavena was not given a chance to—she was forced to veer sharply left to avoid another swipe of the Titan's hand. She cursed. It had gotten much closer than she'd expected.

"You all right, Yavena?" Eld asked. His voice was farther away now.

"I'm fine! I don't think it liked me insulting it, though…"

"Spread out," Levi ordered, sparing only a swift glance in each of their directions. "We divide its attentions."

"Aye!" shouted both Yavena and Eld—she managed to lock eyes with him through the trees for only the briefest of moments before she dove further to the left, and Eld flew off to the right.

This strategy seemed to work for a while; the Abnormal took a number of seconds deciding who to chase, which bought the three soldiers time to gain more ground. But then the shaking of the trees was renewed—and the ground had started to do so as well. Yavena spared a quick glance back and confirmed that there were a plethora of smaller Titans, all around four meters tall or so, chasing after them. The problem with this was they were _fast,_ and were splitting into groups to pursue each of the three of them separately…

Yavena was no longer able to see the Abnormal, which meant that it had chosen either Captain Levi or Eld as its target. Still, there was no trivial amount of smaller Titans looking up at her with soulless eyes and cheerful smiles. It reminded her of a mindless child playing with its food.

The chase was relentless; the ground underneath was shaking due to so many heavy footfalls from the Titans. Some of them were large enough to attempt to swipe up at Yavena, and while she had so far evaded the Titans' attacks, there was a close call once or twice.

"Halfway there!" said Levi's voice. He was somewhere ahead of her, but not by much. She would likely be able to see him again soon.

More Titans exploded from the sides of the path, barreling down trees as they went. One of them was heading straight for Yavena, was right next to her, and was reaching out—

" _Ooph!_ "

Yavena was barreled into a tree… not by the Titan's hand, but by Eld, who had appeared out of nowhere. He glared at the six-meter Titan ahead of him, the one whose eyes were locked on Yavena. With an angry cry, he positioned himself behind the Titan's neck—one precise strike was all he needed to drive the steel blades into its weak spot. The Titan crumpled to the ground, grinning up at them all the while as if it could still secure itself one last meal.

"Come on!" Eld shouted, seizing Yavena's hand and pulling her after him.

Although the journey was still fraught with danger and Yavena knew that she needed to put her full attention to using her gear to return to the Scouts, she couldn't help but think on how quickly that event had just occurred. She did not usually find herself in situations where she was vulnerable, but that had certainly been one… the Titan would've caught her and eaten her if not for Eld.

"Consider it repayment," Eld said, as if reading her mind. Yavena jolted and looked back to him with wide eyes. "For saving me from that three-meter last year."

She was surprised that he still remembered that. It hadn't been nearly as impressive as what he had just done for her now—if Yavena remembered correctly, that three-meter Titan was swinging its deformedly large hands at people, and she had sliced into its nape just before it could hit Eld. It was possible that even if he _had_ been hit, he would've lived. He wouldn't have been grabbed, at least, which was almost always a surefire death sentence.

"I never did properly say thank you for that," he added, a half-smile upon his face. He always wore that look when he was enjoying a friend's company. Yavena had seen it often herself. "So… thank you."

Yavena started to smile, but that look was wiped off of her face when she heard the _cracks_ of wood being split. The Abnormal Titan had reappeared, and despite the swiftness of omni-directional gear, it was starting to _gain_ on them.

"Keep going," she said, because Eld's eyes had widened. The fire in her blood reverted to ice again, but Yavena was not one to shy away from fear—she had learned to _embrace_ it, knowing that to freeze was to die, and that to flee or fight was another day to live. "We're almost there!"

Far ahead of them, Levi was looking back. The slightest change overcame his face when he saw that Eld and Yavena were still following. "I can hear fighting up ahead. More Titans will be waiting!"

Eld and Yavena exchanged looks and nodded to one another. They said nothing, but each of them knew they had been thinking the same thing: that it would be wise to stick together in the upcoming fight, because teamwork was safer and more effective than fighting solo.

Then they were at the edge of the forest. True to Levi's word, chaos had erupted in the village where the Scouts had been establishing their supply base. Eight Titans were storming around, and if Yavena's estimates were correct—which they usually were—they'd already lost a dozen soldiers, if not more.

"There!" Eld said, pointing with his blade.

Yavena followed his gaze and saw Hange standing alone upon the ground, a number of tiny Titans that were only two or three times as big as themselves surrounding them. Even from this distance, she could hear Hange shouting, "Come this way, one of you can come back to the Wall with— _OYE,_ now that isn't very nice, Tomas, you're going to have to learn about boundaries. _Ooph!_ "

Hange had just been swatted aside by the Titan they had apparently named Tomas, directly into the leg of one of the larger ones standing nearby. It reached down to grab them, but Hange simply cut its fingers off and scolded it like they would a small child. "No! No grabbing!"

Yavena shrieked and barreled directly towards the Titan, not bothering to see if Eld was following. She withdrew her blades and in two perfect strokes, buried them deep within the nape of its neck. Hange exclaimed indignantly at this intervention, but Yavena ignored their cries and grabbed her friend with the intent of putting them in a more advantageous combat position. She decided the roofs would do; Yavena set them both down atop an already destroyed house.

"What the hell are you doing?" exclaimed Yavena, glaring at Hange while placing her hands on her hips.

But Hange just moaned, looked down at the Titan that Yavena had just killed, and said, "Ahh, poor Nero, I was hoping to conduct some tests on him, he was a prime candidate for testing Titans' skin regeneration—"

"You're welcome, by the way," Yavena sighed, slapping a hand to her forehead. As she looked over Hange again, however, whatever annoyance she felt vanished like a snowflake upon the ground. "Are you going to be all right?"

Hange nodded. "I'll be _fine,_ stop worrying!"

Feeling marginally better, Yavena looked back down to the battlefield. The first one to catch her eye was Captain Levi, who was leaving a trail of Titan corpses everywhere he went. Then she saw Eld; he was trying to gather the injured and take them to safety.

Knowing that she had to help him, Yavena spared one last look at Hange. "Don't die," she said, and then she leapt off the roof in the direction of Eld Jinn.

Eld was giving a soldier a bandage to wrap his bleeding arm in when Yavena arrived. Turning to her, he asked, "Is the Section-Commander all right?"

Yavena nodded; she looked to her right and noted three small Titans were charging through the midst of the village, unchecked. Shooting Eld a grin, she asked, "Shall we?"

It might've just been a trick of the light, or possibly a sign of exhaustion, but Yavena could've sworn that his face turned the slightest bit pink when he answered, "Of course."

So it was that Yavena and Eld charged the Titans together. It was the first time that they had truly fought side-by-side as a determined team, and the woman was surprised to find how easy it was to establish a camaraderie with him. Eld's movements were incredibly graceful, and the way that he looked at her told her everything she needed to know about what he was planning, where he was going to be, and what he needed her to do. As they continued their defensive onslaught, Yavena felt someone watching her—she could hardly spend the time trying to find out who it was, but the way that the hair on the back of her neck stood up told her that her instincts were right… She and Eld cut down the three Titans with relative ease before moving their way towards more of the injured and incapacitated.

"Come on, Lea!" shouted Eld. He hauled a bleeding woman off of the ground and into his arms. "You aren't done yet. You're _not._ " He began to turn towards the rooftop of a large stone building, but something stopped him.

The ground had started shaking again… they both whirled around just in time to see the Abnormal Titan finally emerging from the trees, a fresh wave of Titans behind it. Some of those smaller Titans had been the ones chasing herself, Levi, and Eld through the forest—some, she hadn't seen until that moment.

Eld locked eyes with her. "Your specialty is the small ones. Are you able to get started without me?"

"I can do that," Yavena replied. "Get the wounded to safety. I'll buy you time."

He nodded gratefully and zoomed off, with the woman Lea still in his grasp.

Just as Yavena was about to charge the new wave of Titans, someone else landed beside her. She glanced over and was only a little surprised to note it was Captain Levi.

"You. You're with me," he said—and then he was gone.

She sighed to herself. "I suppose 'You' is better than 'Pumpkin Head.'"

Yavena followed in the Captain's pathway, noting how he was not aiming directly for the Abnormal Titan even as it began wreaking havoc upon the abandoned village. She was soon able to see why; the other Titans were not attacking the remainder of the Scout Regiment… they were acting almost as the Abnormal's _bodyguards._ There was no better word for them; they were surrounding the Abnormal in a circle so complete it would be all but impossible for anyone—save for Captain Levi—to reach the nape of their leader.

Knowing that there was so much work to do with so little time, Yavena dove forth. She managed to decapitate two of the tiny Titans before they even realized she was there. A flurry of hands assaulted her, but she had trained specifically for this kind of attack: she knew exactly where to lodge her gear's cables, how to evade their gaping mouths, the perfect angles to slice through their muscles and ligaments to take off their arms. The small Titans were almost negligible after being disfigured—their ability to pluck soldiers out of the air so quickly was what made them dangerous, but they couldn't do that once their arms were upon the ground.

Once again, Yavena felt someone watching her as she fought. This time, she knew exactly who it was: Captain Levi.

Something deep in her stomach told her that this was some sort of test, although for what, she could not be sure. Despite her curiosity, however, she knew that now was not the time to dwell on it—her eyes went back into focus only to see that she'd left one of the smaller Titans alive.

"Oye, sorry about that. I forgot you were there," she quipped: and with one more decisive stroke of her blades, the bodyguards on the left side of the Abnormal Titan were gone.

When she looked up for additional orders, she noted that Captain Levi had already taken it upon himself to pose as a distraction for the Abnormal Titan. The abandoned village below was even _more_ desecrated now, with additional roof shingles and glass shards lining the streets overgrown with weeds.

She wondered why he wouldn't just kill it—but the answer was obvious.

He wanted _her_ to do it.

Levi nodded at the look of realization upon her face and jerked his head sideways, towards the enormous Titan.

Although Yavena had less than a tenth of gas left in her gas tank and only two blades remaining, she would do as was ordered. She propelled herself into the air, directing her gear's cables into the monster's shoulder. It didn't make a move to stop her; it was too busy trying to swat Levi out of the sky…

Which meant that Yavena was free to run along its arms' length and plunge her blades as deep into its neck as they could go.

The Abnormal Titan stopped. Its skin began to grow uncomfortably hot—Yavena leapt off of its body to avoid being burned. She hit the ground hard, but somehow managed to roll and prevent injury.

Slowly but surely, the Abnormal's body sunk down to the ground. It was already steaming, disintegrating… Yavena sheathed her blades and sighed. She had killed sixty-three Titans now—a true achievement—but before today, none of them had been an Abnormal like this.

As soon as it was established that the battle was over, Commander Erwin's voice echoed across the village. "All personnel resupply their weapons and gas tanks! Prepare to journey back to Wall Rose in an hour!"

The veteran soldiers nodded and began checking in on one another, the way those who had been in the Scouts for a while tended to do. The new recruits, shaken and battered as they were, began wobbling over to the supply wagons and horses. But Yavena did not join any of them, for Hange, Captain Levi, and Commander Erwin were all walking in her direction.

Yavena saluted the officers as they approached. She was relieved to see that Hange looked no worse for wear… Gesturing to the body of the Abnormal Titan, she said, "Ugly thing, isn't it?"

"Lieutenant Verman," said Erwin, looking at Yavena. His deep blue eyes were as intense as ever, and yet there was the slightest upturn to his lips, betraying the fact that he wanted to laugh at her off-handed comment. "Tell me about this Abnormal Titan that you have slain."

Keeping her salute strong, Yavena did as she was bade. She told Erwin what had happened in the forest, taking great care to provide emphasis on how it had almost laid a trap for them, and how it could traverse trees at great speed, like how the horses could run across the plains.

When she was finished, Erwin nodded. "I see," he said. His lips pursed, but whatever he was thinking, he did not share it.

Then the Commander turned to the man standing next to him. "Levi. Did you find what you were looking for?"

Levi tipped his head—more than a bob, though less than a nod. "I did. I wish to extend Lieutenant Verman the offer of joining my Special Operations squad."

Yavena was so surprised that she dropped her salute.

The Captain crossed his arms and sized her up. "I've been searching for an acceptable addition to my squad for months. The reason you were selected to scout alongside myself and Eld is because I considered you a prime candidate—and you more than delivered. Your natural teamwork with Eld is not something that could be found in just anyone. You also did me a service in the forest by protecting me from the Abnormal. It was not unnoticed."

" _Huhh?_ " exclaimed Hange, breaking their uncharacteristic silence. They glared somewhat at Levi and said, "I was going to recruit Yavena for my research team!"

"Then you should've done it earlier, when I was mentioning aloud that Lieutenant Verman was an ideal choice for Special Operations," returned Levi, narrowing his eyes somewhat.

Hange scowled and crossed their arms, glaring at the ground.

Yavena glanced between Levi and Hange, knowing that one way or the other, she was screwed. One did not simply rebuff an offer to join the squad of Captain Levi of the Scout Regiment—but Hange was also her best friend… her _only_ friend.

"Ahh," Hange sighed suddenly, uncrossing their arms. "You were always more attuned to fighting anyway, Yavena. You'd be bored if you were to help me and my team with my studies. You'll fit well with Squad Levi."

A weight disappeared from Yavena's stomach; she inspected Hange carefully to make sure they weren't just saying this to be nice. But there was no furrow to their eyebrow, no twitch in their nose… none of the signs that meant Hange was lying.

Standing tall, Yavena looked back to Levi. "I'd be honored, Captain."

Levi had never been one to show much emotion at all. But for one flicker of a second, Yavena saw the trace of a smile in his eyes. "Welcome to my squad, Yavena."

She smiled, unable to keep it off of her face. "Thank you."

He nodded and saluted her, staring at her evenly for only a second before saying, "I suggest you go speak to Eld, Petra, Olou, and Gunther. They'll undoubtedly be pleased to hear that I've made my decision."

She did not miss the fact that as he spoke, Levi had closed himself off again—but that did not matter. Because Yavena had caught onto that moment where it seemed as though he was unraveling; for the first time in six years, he had said her name, and his voice had been warm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! Thanks for getting this far. :) I just wanted to say that I've recently learned that Hange's gender is considered ambiguous, and so I'm going to go through all of my chapters and fix that as best as I can. If I miss a few places please let me know! Just another reason I should start reading the manga, eh?


	3. -A New Command-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again, I hope you're all having a great day. :) I just wanted to give a bit of a layout for this story, because I've got a lot written ahead of when I post. There will be a few more chapters of pre-canon material, and then I'm going to dive into the attack on Trost District around Chapter 7 (not including the prologue). Again, there will be some detail/location deviations and such and I'd rather be honest and upfront about that.
> 
> If you have any questions or comments please feel free to leave them. I'd love to hear what you're thinking. Have a good one!

* * *

Yavena quickly discovered that being part of Squad Levi was quite the commitment. Every day, the five of them would train for hours on teamwork exercises, although Petra said this was mostly because Yavena was new. Other than that, they spent a great amount of time on lookout duty for the Scout Regiment castle—the five of them were always the first ones up in the morning, and oftentimes the last ones to go to sleep at the end of each day.

Even so, Yavena was enjoying her time with Squad Levi. While Levi himself was spending most of his time with Commander Erwin, the others of the Special Operations squad were almost always with her. Her relationships with all of them steadily grew deeper—even with Olou. She was shocked to realize that they were becoming more like _friends_ rather than simple squad-mates.

The person on the team with whom Yavena shared the closest bond was Eld. During meals that Hange would sit with their research team, Yavena would take a seat across from him and ask about previous special operations that Squad Levi had participated in. Eld would tell her about what they had done for missions that went both well and ill. The others would listen—Olou would often chime in with exaggerated descriptions of himself slaying Titans—and add details that may have been forgotten.

Yavena found herself surprised that she had disregarded Eld as 'easy to read' so quickly during their previous exploration. She should've known that there would've been more of him to unravel, mysteries to uncover. That had always been Yavena's favorite part of getting to know people: slowly learning more and more about them, so that they were no longer so far away, but there in that space with her. And in the following two months, she learned much of Eld: he told her of his hobby of documenting animals that he had seen. He showed her a notebook in which he had drawn his best recollections of certain animals: foxes, deer, quails. All of them were animals that couldn't be found or were hard to find inside Walls.

"I'd draw a sheep, but… I don't remember what they look like," he had admitted, sitting next to her in the lounge. "My grandfather showed me one when I was a boy. That was many years ago now, though."

One evening, on her way for a midnight cup of tea, Yavena had caught him in the kitchens, covered in flour. His face had been pink while he'd explained that his mother taught him how to make bread when he was younger—and that when he was feeling anxious without any particular reason, he would resort to that activity.

He taught her his family's recipe and offered her some of the bread… Yavena had quite forgotten what it was like, to eat food that had been made with such care.

In response to what Yavena had learned of Eld, she too began to tell him of her more personal interests and thoughts. On the third anniversary of the day that she lost her mother, it was Eld that she went to for comfort, seeing as Hange was in the middle of mission reports with Commander Erwin and couldn't be disturbed. She told him about her mother's lifelong commitment to wiping out the Titans; of her secret garden in the backyard; of her mother's favorite phrase, which had been ' _Karma does exist—and yes, dear girl, she is a bitch._ '

She also showed Eld one of the books that her father had given her: it was her favorite, titled _The Four Far Beyond._ It was about adventure and friendship, of four heroes who had to face all odds together and still managed to succeed in killing an evil king and freeing his lands from tyranny. While Eld seemed interested in the story, what most drew his attention—as it had with Yavena—were the descriptions of strange lands in the books: wide plains of sand called a desert, a never-ending body of water called the ocean, muggy lands of mud and mosquitos called swamps.

"I'd like to avoid the swamps," Yavena had said, somewhat as a laugh. "Because they don't sound very pleasant. But the desert and the ocean? Sometime during my life, I'd love to see them… if they exist at all."

"You'll see them," Eld replied. A spark was in his eyes as he looked at her. "We'll take back Wall Maria someday, I promise you. And then… perhaps we can see for ourselves if there really is an ocean out there."

Eld was not the only one full of surprises: Olou was too. Even though the man was sometimes intolerable—whether it be the sexist jokes or the piss-poor imitation of Captain Levi—he had a truly caring heart deep underneath.

During days where Yavena took more of a beating than the rest of them during training, Olou was the first to sneak into the storage rooms and offer her an extra bandage, or a splash of wine. More than once during their lookout shift had they shared a bottle, talking about what they would do once the Titans were defeated and Wall Maria reclaimed.

"I won't pretend that I've got a plan," Olou sighed, draining the last dredges of the bottle. "My life has been fighting Titans for so long that I've almost forgotten what it's like to be a regular man, and not a soldier."

Yavena was surprised to see that when it was only herself and Olou, he didn't try as hard. He was less aggressive with his posturing, didn't spout as many strange or insensitive jokes, didn't puff out his chest. He was more laid-back; he laughed more, and simply seemed more at ease.

But when Yavena confronted him about this, asking him why he changed who he was, Olou just laughed and said, "I don't do that."

"Yes, you do," she insisted, crossing her arms and looking at him head-on. "You try to be more like the Captain. And this is me telling you that you don't have to do that—I much prefer you, Olou, not your impersonation of Levi."

Although Yavena was not sure if he would appreciate her input or not, she was pleasantly surprised that in the following days, Olou seemed to be more relaxed around the rest of the group: more himself.

On days that Yavena was feeling uncertain or apprehensive, she found Petra. There was something soothing about Petra that Yavena couldn't quite place. Maybe it was the optimism that Yavena had once looked down upon, or possibly the soft-spoken tone of her voice. Maybe it wasn't either of those things, but something else entirely.

Either way, Yavena knew she could find comfort in Petra. The woman always seemed to know what her friends needed, even without asking: whether it was silence or a pat on the arm, or someone to simply talk to.

Petra had such a brightness about her that Yavena couldn't help sharing stories from better days with her. The two women would sit by the fireplace in the dining hall with the rare crostata in their hands, reminiscing on childhood days spent in the sun or on funny adventures during their training in the Cadet Corps. She had a contagious laugh—one of few in Yavena's recent memory.

When Yavena asked Petra how she was able to put on a smile every day, the woman laughed and responded, "We make so many bad memories as soldiers. To fight those, I keep a tight hold on the good ones, both long ago and recent. This one, right here, with the two of us holding strawberry pastries by the fire? This is going to be one of the good ones. Sometimes it's hard to recall them, true… but just like we fight the Titans until the end, so I will battle my own demons, and win over them."

Although Gunther was the squad member that Yavena spent the least amount of time with, he was the one that she saw the most of herself within. He was quiet—at times a little standoffish—but he was also wise and loyal, and always on task. It wasn't uncommon to see him in the castle library, perusing old texts or reports, or in the courtyard, committing himself to extra training.

It was Gunther who helped Yavena perfect the few moves that she was uncomfortable with during training, and Gunther who made sure that she was eating well during each meal. He seemed to be the one who kept everyone on task, who looked after each person's welfare. And he never seemed to tire of it, a fact that Yavena found astonishing.

He was also the person one went to if they wished for purely silent company. Gunther best knew of the comfort that one was given when being simply alone together. He did not ask questions, he did not pry. He simply remained by Yavena's side when she sought him out, keeping himself busy by inspecting his weapons or reading a book. It was a simple arrangement, but one filled with meaning.

Although he didn't speak much, when Gunther _did_ say something, his words were often important. When Petra and Olou would argue—although Olou was becoming a lot more tolerable, their squabbles didn't seem to change—he would always approach the two parties and say something to calm them both down. He was the mediator; the peacemaker. Yavena was not ashamed to admit that she was jealous of this trait. It seemed to be incredibly helpful, to have a patience that few others could aspire to, a way with words that only a few were ever blessed with.

Captain Levi was not around very much, save for mealtimes. Even when he _did_ sit with his squad, however, Levi was as quiet as Gunther. The difference between them was that there was some sort of cold energy emanating from Levi that Gunther did not have. It was not necessarily _supercilious,_ but… it almost seemed like a defense mechanism: one in place to keep from anyone getting too close.

He asked Yavena how she was adjusting to her new squadron and merely nodded when she replied that she felt like things were going well. Every evening he would ask for reports on their exercises—Eld would be the one to answer, and Levi would stand ahead of them all with crossed arms and a stoic expression. Each time he handed them their assignments, he said little more than a dozen words.

One evening at dinner, Yavena found herself simply staring at her plate. Eld was across from her, telling Gunther, Petra, Olou, and Levi about the book that Yavena had lent him. While normally she would love to hear how he was enjoying it, on that night there was simply something _off._

She knew that Petra noticed—hardly anything got past Petra—and as soon as Eld had finished his description of the chapter he'd finished that afternoon, she said softly, "Yavena, you've been quiet today. Quieter than usual, I mean."

Yavena felt five pairs of eyes boring into her, and so she looked up, careful not to look as ill as she felt.

"I just have… a lot on my mind," she said lamely, taking a bite of her dinner.

The strange thing was that Yavena could not put her finger on what exactly was wrong. It was as though worms were squirming around the inside of her stomach, and she could not say she welcomed the feeling at all.

"Get some sleep," Levi said abruptly. Yavena's dark eyes flickered to her Captain, whose expression had not changed even a modicum of a degree. "You'll need it if you're to do well for training tomorrow. Take a cup of hot tea with you."

And before anyone could say anything at all, he nodded towards her and the others, grabbed his plate, and left the table in silence.

Yavena couldn't help but watch him go. The twisting in her stomach both abated somewhat and grew much worse.

"A-hah," Petra said softly, although it didn't seem as though she was actually laughing. "I see now. I can hardly blame you. It must be hard, to transfer commands from your friend Hange Zoë to Levi, who hardly says anything at all."

"What do you mean?" Yavena replied, perhaps a little too quickly. The worms in her stomach were no longer wriggling, but thrashing.

Petra smiled. "Everyone wants to hear that they're doing well—that their superior officer cares about them and their progress. It's not easy to have that comfort when Levi is your commanding officer."

Olou began nodding in agreement; Gunther raised his cup in cheers.

"But you should know this, Yavena," Petra continued, offering her the same kindly smile that she always had. "Captain Levi _does_ care. He may not show or say it that often, but we can see it in the way he addresses us. It's in the way he stands tall, when telling Commander Erwin of our progress. Once you serve with Levi for a while… it'll start to make sense."

Yavena took a deep breath and a large gulp of her tea. The worms in her stomach began to settle down, until it seemed as though they'd never been there at all.

"Thank you, Petra," she said—across the dining hall, Levi was walking through the door in the direction of the officer's quarters. Looking back amongst her companions, she asked, "Have any of you ever seen him smile?"

Gunther, Eld, Olou, and Petra all exchanged questioning looks. As the seconds ticked on, their contemplative expressions morphed into troubled frowns.

"No, I don't think we have," said Eld at last.

Yavena hid her frown by taking another sip of her tea. She was not sure whether to be comforted by Eld's answer, or even more troubled.

* * *

The next day, Yavena made a conscious effort to push her thoughts out of her head. The _last_ thing she should be doing was having doubts over her Captain and commanding officer…

But it was admittedly rather hard when he showed up to their training exercises with the intent of inspecting her progress.

Still, she managed to do relatively well, although Yavena messed up an incredibly simple drill that she had long since mastered. The fluke made her slap a hand against her forehead, which made Eld laugh and prompted Petra to say, "Don't worry, we'll just do it again!"

Training took both no time at all and a full eternity—but at last, it was done. Yavena was not sure what she was going to do with the rest of her day, seeing as she did not have lookout duty that afternoon or evening.

Yavena was broken from her thoughts upon hearing Levi's voice saying, "You five. Come here."

She followed the others to the side of the courtyard where he was standing; with his arms crossed as usual, Levi said, "We'll be heading out of Wall Rose again in three days. Make sure you're prepared."

"Aye," they all replied, saluting as one.

The Captain nodded and began to walk away, his dark-green cloak swirling around his heels at the abruptness of his turn. Yavena watched him go, her mind whirling a million meters a minute—although Petra had said the previous night that Levi cared about his squad, a sudden burst of impatience had appeared in her heart…

At that moment, Yavena realized why she was feeling the way that she was, both now and the previous evening.

Ever since the day that she had been offered a place in Captain Levi's squad, she had been unconsciously thinking of the triumph it had been to see the hint of a smile upon his face, to gain a glimpse into what he was thinking or feeling. But as quickly as it had arrived, it was gone… and there had been no indication, not even after three months of training and immersing herself with their squad-mates, of when that next moment of vulnerability would be.

Yavena had never been one to shy away from a mystery… and even though there was a whole unexplored world outside the Walls, even though there were so many unknowns about the Titans… for a split second in time, she felt as though Captain Levi was the biggest mystery she'd yet encountered.

"Yavena?"

She blinked and forced her gaze over to the others, who were already halfway across the courtyard in the direction of the dining hall, likely with the intent of grabbing something for a late lunch. Now that he held her attention, Olou asked, "Are you coming with us?"

But Yavena knew where she was going to go, and it wasn't the dining hall.

"I'm not hungry," she replied. It wasn't exactly a lie—those damn worms had returned to her stomach and Yavena knew she wouldn't be able to eat even if she wanted to. "I'll meet up with you for dinner instead."

Olou nodded and rejoined the other three. The moment that they were gone, Yavena turned the opposite way, in the direction of the officer's quarters.

Yavena had not explored this part of the castle all that much, but she knew how to get to Hange's room. She was grateful for a solid memory; without it, she likely would've gotten lost at least twice.

In no time at all she was outside Hange's room, knocking on her friend's door. When it opened, however, it was not Hange who answered: it was Captain Levi.

Yavena felt her stomach twist into painful knots, but she refused to let it show upon her face. "My apologies, Captain. I thought this was Hange Zoë's room."

From somewhere farther in the room, Hange laughed. There was the creaking of a wooden chair, and then Yavena's friend appeared in the doorway next to Levi, looking as though they were trying not to grin as they said, "It is, Yavena. Come on in, we were just finishing up."

The knots in her stomach untied as Levi held open the door for her. She took the seat that Hange was gesturing towards; noting that there were papers strewn across the desk, Yavena said, "I can come back later, if that's a better time…"

"No," Levi said, choosing to stand next to her. "You can stay."

The Captain's eyes were resolutely on Hange as he declared, "Hange… you know that even with these blueprints and plans, Erwin is not likely to say yes. He has already said no many times—why do you continue to pester him?"

Hange leaned forward, clasping their hands together. "Because there are so many answers that could be obtained from the research alone. In order to defeat something, one must study everything about it. We need to find more weaknesses than simply the nape on a Titan's neck—we need to know where they are all coming from, and if we can stop them from doing so! I believe it's worth the risk to gather these answers. And before you ask, Levi: yes, I believe it would be worth any cost."

Levi raised a singular eyebrow and looked over one of the documents upon the desk—it seemed as though it was a design for an iron trap, one that would be able to restrain a Titan of three-meters or smaller height.

"I can sympathize with your desire to defeat those bastards, if nothing else," he said at last, leaning back somewhat.

A twisted smile overcame Hange's face. "Then let us hope that Erwin will be willing to act on that same feeling. I won't let the matter rest until I know he's _truly_ thought about it."

"What do _you_ think about this, then?" asked Levi, glancing at Yavena from the corner of her eye. "Hange has likely been blabbing to you at every opportunity about how they wish to capture a Titan."

" _Strategizing,_ not blabbing," Hange said coolly.

Yavena chewed the inside of her cheek for a moment, taking the liberty of inspecting the other papers upon the desk. The iron trap was not the only machine that had been designed—there were others as well, cages of titanium or rope guns that could fire a steel-mesh net.

"I think that we need to delve into the mystery of the world," Yavena finally answered. She knew that she ran the risk of earning disapproval from her Captain, but she could not deny that Hange's sentiments rang true with her own. "The mystery of how Titans come to be, if there's anything we can do to lessen our losses against them. If it saves hundreds of lives in the future… surely it would be worth the dozens we might lose now."

Hange beamed at her from across the table; Levi regarded Yavena carefully before sighing, "Very well. I'll bring these blueprints to Erwin and see if there's any way to change his mind. He may be more amenable to your plan if he learns of our combined support."

"You're willing to attempt to capture a Titan, then?" Yavena said, surprised.

Levi exhaled through his nose. Whether it was a laugh or a scoff she did not know, and he did not care to elaborate on which it was. "The key word being _attempt,_ yes." He carefully gathered the papers upon Hange's desk before nodding to the both of them and starting towards the door—

"Captain!"

Levi stopped with his hand on the doorknob and glanced back at Yavena.

She stared at him evenly, trying for only the briefest of moments to see past his ever-constant wall. His silver eyes were as unreadable as ever, although the way that he was standing told her that at the very least, he wasn't annoyed that she had addressed him. It was a small comfort.

"Why did you let me kill the Abnormal Titan?" Yavena asked at last. "You were certainly capable of doing it yourself…"

"At that point, I was certain I wished to invite you to my Special Operations squad," Levi replied, turning back around. His expression was explicitly neutral—his voice was no different. "There are always rumors being spread about the soldiers under my direct command. Some try to undermine Olou's accomplishments, or Petra's combat ability. In order to prevent some of the whispers about _you,_ I had you publicly kill the Abnormal Titan, so that those who were watching saw that you had plenty of ability. It would not prevent all rumors, but I gambled it would staunch a few."

Yavena's eyes widened somewhat at the explanation. This was not an answer she had contemplated; she'd thought that he had believed her incapable and wanted her to prove him wrong, or that it had been another test… She hadn't thought that he was looking out for her. Clearing her throat, she said, "I'll admit that was unexpected. Thank you, Captain."

He nodded and opened the door leading out of Hange's office. As he turned to close it behind him, he glanced back towards the two others and said, "Afternoon, Four Eyes. Pumpkin Head."

Hange groaned at the nickname, while Yavena heard herself scoff, "Tch!" The gesture had been entirely unconscious, but upon seeing Levi's mildly interested look, she said, "I thought I finally got rid of that when you recruited me."

"Oh no. Once you idiots get a nickname, you keep it for life," Levi replied. There was some sort of promise in his voice. "So since you obviously haven't already, you'd best get used to Pumpkin Head."

Something bubbled in Yavena's throat. She wasn't sure if it was a smart remark or a scoff, but before she could dwell on it, it escaped: it turned out to be a laugh.

Levi closed the door behind him, leaving Yavena and Hange alone in the Section-Commander's office.

After a few seconds of silence, Hange sighed and ran a hand through their dark bangs. "Well, he's always a delight."

Yavena scoffed again, though she knew that neither she nor Hange would be able to ignore the upturn to her lips.

Hange raised an eyebrow, but soon began laughing upon seeing the exasperatedly amused look on Yavena's face. They giggled with one another for a while—but then those giggles transformed into fuller laughs, and then Yavena's ribs began to hurt and she couldn't remember the last time she'd lost her breath from laughing, and she realized how very much she'd missed Hange's company with all the chaos of the last three months.

When at last the two regained control over themselves—Hange had to wipe away a tear from their eye—it was Hange who spoke. "How have you been, Yavena? We haven't had much time to spend together with our busy schedules."

This was not wrong; although the two would sit with one another during a few mealtimes and talk when they bumped into each other in the halls, there had not been a day where they set time aside to visit.

"Busy and tired," Yavena replied. She shifted in the seat, crossing one leg over the other. "Eld and Levi have been working me down to the bone."

"You'd better get used to that. Levi's a demanding man."

"So I've come to realize," muttered Yavena, running a hand through her hair. When she took it between her fingers and looked at its color, she sighed. "And now that I really look at it, I can see why he'll be sticking with 'Pumpkin Head.'"

Hange laughed again, though they stood up from their seat in favor of leaning beside the window. "You know, it's funny. He acts like he hates pumpkins, but I saw him the other day, sneaking an extra glass of pumpkin juice at breakfast. Not the apple or orange, no: the pumpkin."

Yavena raised an eyebrow somewhat and decided to join Hange in standing by the window. Down in the courtyard below, some of the recruits were training under supervision of Squad Leader Klaus. A few of the veteran soldiers were laughing about something only a few meters away, drinking glasses of a chosen beverage.

"Some of them won't be coming back here in four days' time," Hange said in a low voice.

Of course Hange was right… but Yavena found herself wishing that she wouldn't have to think about the upcoming reconnaissance mission just yet. There was something soothing about the Scout Regiment castle; a sense of normalcy, a return to her days in the Cadet Corps where the only things she had to worry about were her training and the approval of her superior officer.

Yavena took a deep breath. "What is important in their deaths is how they are remembered."

Hange inhaled sharply and looked at their friend… before blurting out, "Yavena. Do you really think capturing a Titan would be worth losing our friends?"

Yavena's eyes went wide—she redirected her gaze down to the courtyard. She saw Eld and Gunther walking together, joining Klaus in training and improving the newer recruits. Somewhere farther in the castle, Petra and Olou were relaxing, perhaps bickering… but also laughing, as they always tended to do even when they were arguing.

The members of Yavena's new command had grown to be good friends of hers. She was both grateful and surprised for it: Yavena had been one to shy away from people in the past. She'd never really _had_ good friends, save for Hange. Despite that, the members of Squad Levi had been open, welcoming—they'd become closer to her than she'd ever dared hope.

But putting them, all four of their lives, aside… there were some things about the world that _needed_ to be known. If humanity was ever going to live a life outside of the Walls—and on a more selfish note, if Yavena was ever going to see those sandy deserts and that never-ending ocean—then the Titans needed to be defeated, no matter the cost, no matter who lived or died.

If she too had to die for humanity to live, for someone else to see the ocean…

"It will be hard, Hange. But yes. It would be worth losing our comrades for."

Hange was quiet for a long moment. Both soldiers stood next to the window, feeling an imperceptible chill spread through the air.

"Thanks, Yavena," Hange said at last. "That helps."

They were silent again, watching the goings-on of the courtyard down below. It was often considered the heart of the base; each segment of the castle met down into that one point, so officers and recruits could all interact with one another.

Despite how frequently the Scout Regiment lost its members, Yavena knew that no one could say the Scouts were not a tight-knit community. Perhaps that was why they, over the Wall Garrison and the Military Police, were more tenacious soldiers. Because it was the Scouts who lost their friends, who saw the Titans in all their fearsome brutality and warmongering… and the fear that each man and woman felt in one of the reconnaissance missions would either make or break a soldier's heart.

"Give your hearts!" Commander Erwin would bellow, whenever he would lead his soldiers into battle.

As a Scout, one's heart had to be strong.

Yavena took a deep breath. It was true; many of the people in this castle would not return. But in a twisted sort of way, that was something that solidified her resolve—the loss of her comrades, both young and old, made her that much more certain in herself, that much more determined to see every last Titan wiped from the world.

"As grateful as I am for your visit, I know that you did not come to see me just for the hell of it," Hange said, wearing their familiar half-smirk. "There was something in your eyes when you entered this room."

Yavena blinked, having remembered what she'd come to Hange's office for. Her intent had originally been to ask her friend what they knew about Captain Levi—she had wanted a second opinion on if Levi _actually_ cared about the squad that he commanded, because loath as she was to admit it, Petra's words had not quite been enough to help her unravel the mystery of the man.

But that was no longer necessary. When Levi had been in Hange's office, he had asked for Yavena's opinion. He had said she and his other squad members were idiots, but it hadn't been said as an insult: almost like an incredibly faint and far-off term of affection.

And based on what Hange had said earlier… maybe 'Pumpkin Head' wasn't so bad.

Yavena couldn't help but smile a little. The best mysteries were not figured out in a short span of time. The best ones took months—years—to uncover… and they were always best when one figured it out by themselves.

"I came to ask if you were going to try and capture a Titan on our mission this week. I wanted to see if there was anything I could do to help," Yavena said.

Hange studied Yavena for a moment before chuckling. "That's a nice save, Yavena. I know it isn't the truth, but I appreciate the sentiment. If you _really_ want to hear what I have planned, though…"

"I really do," Yavena said, and this was true. She wanted to talk to her friend about their plans and their passion: learning and danger and adventure, all combined into one. She wanted to take advantage of the opportunity where neither of them had commitments, and to just _talk_ with Hange. "So long as there isn't any doctor stuff in those plans of yours…"

"Pah. Yavena Verman, able to swing a steel blade as long as a human's arm into the depths of a man-eating Titan's neck, but unable to even _look_ at a needle."

This time, Yavena didn't bother to restrain from rolling her eyes. But she took a spot by Hange's side as she was beckoned over; and as she listened to her friend talk about the future names of the Titans she would capture, Yavena couldn't help but relax.

Even though she was now under a new command, with new squad-mates and a new Captain, she could appreciate the moments like this where life felt as simple as it had been in the Cadet Corps: herself and Hange, making grand plans for the future, without the need for anyone else's company.


	4. -Reconnaissance Mission 55-

* * *

Every now and then, when the Scouts led an exploration beyond the Walls, they left early in the morning around five or six o'clock. This was so they would not run into any Titans right after they had set out, but it was horrible for those of the Scouts who were not morning people.

Yavena was not one of those Scouts, but Hange was. For all the other early reconnaissance missions they had gone on together, Yavena would do what she could to keep Hange awake and alert, should there be any orders from Commander Erwin or the odd Titan that showed up just after dawn.

This fifty-fifth reconnaissance mission, however, was the first that Yavena would not be riding her horse alongside Hange. She would instead be next to Eld and Gunther, with Petra and Olou just behind them and Captain Levi directly ahead. Hange wouldn't be anywhere close so they could talk, and this alone had been a bittersweet order to follow.

To make up for this fact, Yavena chose to sit with Hange for their four-in-the-morning breakfast. As expected, Hange was almost falling asleep where they sat.

"Hange," said Yavena, shaking her friend's shoulder and setting down a mug of hot tea. "I've brought you some black tea to wake you up."

"I'd rather go back to sleep," Hange groaned, although they grabbed the tea that was offered and took a large sip.

The smile on Yavena's face couldn't be restrained. "Me too."

For a little while they sat, two soldiers just as quiet as the others in the hall. If there was one thing that all the Scouts could agree on, it was that getting up after only five hours of sleep was often brutal.

"Hange. Yavena."

Yavena looked up to see Commander Erwin taking the seat across from her. He was certainly the most awake person in the room—he held onto a piece of toast with jam and a mug of hot tea, although he didn't seem to be paying either of these things much attention.

"Commander," Yavena said. She wasn't sure whether to salute him fully or not… hoping it wouldn't be disrespectful, she made the gesture of crossing her right fist over her chest, although she did not stand up.

Luckily, this seemed to be enough. Erwin smiled somewhat and said, "Good morning. I'm glad to see you here, Lieutenant. I have a question for you."

Yavena nodded, waiting.

"How have you been assimilating with Squad Levi?"

This was not what Yavena had been expecting, though she only blinked once in surprise before replying, "I've felt very comfortable. I can only hope that I've gained the approval of my new squad-mates and Captain."

The Commander took a sip of his tea before looking evenly back at her. "I've heard good things so far from all five of them. Will you be ready for a special operation alongside them today?"

"Absolutely," she wasted no time in answering. Somewhere deep underneath her chest, her heart was pounding. Based on what the Commander had said, it seemed as though her new squad—as well as its Captain—had talked well of her when Erwin had asked…

"Good. Our purpose outside the Wall is to scout for any castles or villages we can repurpose into supply bases. There need to be more links between this castle here and our outpost within Wall Rose; I'm asking Squad Levi to be the forward scouts today. Send smoke signals when you encounter Titans, and take care of as many as you can before we catch up with you."

Yavena found herself smiling, and of course she knew why. This was going to be her first mission as an official member of Captain Levi's squad—even civilians inside the wall knew how prestigious an honor it was. She couldn't mess this up.

And so, keeping her salute strong, she said, "Aye, Commander."

Erwin rewarded her with the ghost of a smile and took a large bite of his toast.

* * *

It was only an hour later that Yavena was atop one of the Regiment's horses, leading the expedition to the southwest with her new friends. The sun wasn't expected to come up for another hour, but despite that, Petra and Olou were as lively as ever. They had not started bickering—a small blessing—but they hadn't yet picked up on the fact that Yavena was more like Gunther when riding the horses: quiet and solitary.

"Oye, Yavena!" exclaimed Olou from behind her. "So if we can't call you Pumpkin Head, is there anything else we can nickname you?"

Yavena thought on this for a moment. "Nothing comes to mind right now!"

Olou groaned. "Ahh, come on! There must be _someth_ — _OUCH!_ "

Petra and Eld began to laugh as they realized that Olou had accidentally bitten his tongue while riding the horse. They had warned Yavena in advance that he had always been prone to such a rookie mistake; Yavena herself couldn't help shaking her head and grinning.

"I believe they call that karma," said Levi. He did not turn around to face his soldiers, and Yavena found herself wondering that when no one could see him, if he allowed himself to smile… or if he was just as closed-off from the world as he was with those close to him.

"Karma?" repeated Olou, who obviously hadn't yet learned from his mistakes. "How so? I just want a nickname for her, since you've already claimed one."

Yavena finally spared a look back at Olou, who was glaring at her with playfully narrowed eyes. Seeing this petulant look, she laughed, "Give me until the end of the day, Olou. I'll come up with something for you."

He was placated with this—and thankfully, Yavena was left to ride across the plains in a peaceful silence.

Only thirty minutes later, Squad Levi came upon a few frozen Titans. It had been Commander Erwin's orders that should any Titans be found, that someone let them know with a smoke signal: blue to signify that the Titans were still unable to move, red to say the Titans were attacking. Petra fired the blue shell on Levi's command, and then they all rode their horses towards the two Titans that were sitting plainly on the grass.

Yavena sighed, knowing that if Hange were here, it was likely that they could've taken the small one into custody. Its eyes were much too large for its face, though; in fact, they almost seemed to be bulging out of its skull. The larger one seemed more average in both appearance and size, although it had a notable feature of a large red stripe across its midsection.

"Could they have been fighting when the sun went down?" asked Petra.

Levi swung his leg over his horse, removing himself from the saddle, and walked up towards the two Titans. He spent a moment inspecting each one before remarking, "No. Titan's skin regeneration is fast. If this was a wound from the other one, it would've healed by now."

"Is it possible for Titans to have scars?" Yavena wondered aloud. She did not disembark from her horse, but she directed it just a smidge closer to the Titans. "Hange would know…"

Eld escorted his horse next to Yavena's and asked, "Do you think the Section-Commander could take this one back to base with us?"

"No. It's too large to move, and we don't have the traps she designed yet," said Levi. "Best to just kill them and be done with it."

Although Yavena was not sure this was the case—if Titans could be scarred, it should be looked into—but her Captain did not pause long enough for her to speak. With one swift movement of his omni-directional gear, Levi perched himself atop the two Titans' necks and guided his blades through their skin.

Both of the Titans began falling forward, colliding into the ground with a loud _thud_. Steam began rising from their bodies, signifying that they were well and truly dead.

"Come on," said Levi. He raised his smoke launcher into the air and shot a green smoke shell to let the remainder of the Scout Regiment know that the Titans in question had been dealt with. Then he re-saddled his horse and continued onward, leaving his five soldiers with no choice but to follow.

Silence once again consumed the six members of the squad. But this time it was not a peaceful silence; this time, Yavena was troubled.

She would've liked to have waited for Hange, to see if they could've taken that Titan or even run some tests on it in the remaining hour of darkness that they had. But Captain Levi had acted quickly; too quickly for her to protest, if she had found the nerve to do so…

The more that Yavena thought on it, the more that she realized she would've had the nerve. She had served under Levi's command on and off for the last six years, after all—she had never outright contradicted his orders, but on rare occasions she had asked him if there was no other course of action.

He had listened to her once, on a mission two years ago. Squad Uriel had gone forth to scout for Titans in the mountains to the north, with an allotted time-frame of three hours. But when time came to move, the squad did not return.

Commander Erwin and Captain Levi had been ready to cut their losses and continue on without them. But Yavena knew the mechanics of the omni-directional gear. She had a hunch that the squad's gear might have malfunctioned, as Squad Uriel had gone high up in the mountains, where the air was thinner and colder.

"We owe it to them to look!" Yavena had insisted, her face red, her blood full of fire. What fear she might've felt in standing up to Captain Levi was gone, to be replaced by her anger and desperation. She didn't know how she knew, but she _knew_ they were still alive and out there somewhere. "Send me on a horse! If no one else will look for them, then I will."

Captain Levi had watched her blankly, his silver eyes as impassive as they were when he watched a flock of birds overhead. But in the end, he had acquiesced. He had let her go, with anyone else who wished to join her, in an attempt to locate the missing squad.

It had taken her a half-hour, but sure enough, there was Squad Uriel, with broken gear and frosty fingers and toes, hoping desperately for a rescue.

"Oye. Pumpkin Head."

She inhaled sharply and looked ahead of her. Captain Levi was looking over his shoulder—she could just barely see the glint of his eyes.

"I can practically hear you thinking from up here," he remarked, turning back around. "Care to share with the rest of us?"

Yavena set her jaw, knowing that if she and Hange were going to catch that damn Titan, they needed to get everyone else on their side. "I'm thinking that those Titans back there were the perfect opportunity to learn more about them, and that it might've been wiser to wait for the Section-Commander before killing them."

The other four squad members all shot her a shocked look. Based on this alone, Yavena could tell that none of them had ever criticized one of Levi's orders.

Levi was quiet for a moment. Then, he said, "Aye. It might've been. But capturing the Titans is not what we are launching this mission for. What we are supposed to do is scout forward and look to establish another supply base."

"So we should be ignoring opportunities handed to us on silver platters?"

"We should be following Commander Erwin's orders," he answered. "Although I have told Hange Zoë that I will attempt to help them capture a Titan—as I expect the rest of you to do, when the time comes—I will not jeopardize our current mission for one we can enact in the future."

Yavena sighed, realizing that unfortunately, she wasn't going to be getting anywhere this time. But it didn't make any _sense_ : they had just been given a Titan free and clear, one that Hange could've used for tests and experiments. Surely finding a new base could've been put off, after coming across such a find…

She continued thinking on this, while also wondering if Captain Levi was still pondering the same thing that she was.

The sun rose within the next ninety minutes, meaning that it was likely any nearby Titans would begin to sense them and charge. Yavena and the others kept a sharp watch on the horizon, searching for any sign of movement.

Even after an additional hour of riding, however, there was nothing… it was suspiciously clear in all directions.

It was Gunther who said what they were all thinking. "Captain, you don't think the Titans are either organizing an attack or waiting for us?"

"Tch. They're far too stupid for that."

But Yavena found herself exchanging uncertain glances with Petra—it was a rare mission that they weren't accosted by any Titans within a few hours of the sun rising. Not to mention that one couldn't be too careful…

"There!"

Yavena followed where Olou was pointing, expecting to see a Titan—but it was not that. In the midst of a few scattered trees stood a relatively undamaged building made of cobblestone. It might've been a church or monastery before Wall Maria had fallen… but now, if secured, it would made an excellent supply base.

The Captain did not say anything, but he reached into his smoke signal belt and shot a green smoke signal into the air, to let Commander Erwin and the others know that their objective was in sight. Each of the six of them redirected their horses towards the dilapidated building, hoping that its structural integrity would be sound enough for the Scout Regiment's mission to be a success.

As the squad neared the building, the ground began to shake. They all knew what that meant—when Yavena looked behind them, she saw an eight-meter Titan following their path, its tongue hanging out of its mouth as if it could taste its meal nearby.

Without waiting for Levi's command, she thrust a red smoke shell into the smoke launcher and fired it into the air.

Levi nodded at her and said, "There's another one up ahead, hiding behind the building. Petra, Eld, Olou—you take care of that one. Yavena and Gunther, you're with me."

It was the second time that her Captain had ever said her first name, although Yavena was not able to revel in the accomplishment for long. Levi and Gunther were pushing their horses towards the trees, where they might be able to make better use of their omni-directional gear, and she quickly followed. Based on the thundering footsteps behind them, Yavena could only suppose their pursuer was following.

When Yavena turned around, she only had a few seconds to get herself to better positioning. The Titan was but twenty meters away—she spurred her horse to take refuge in the trees and propelled herself into the top branches.

The Titan barreled forward and reached towards Yavena's tree, almost tripping in its excitement. She buried her cables in its shoulder and dove towards it, hoping to make a sharp turn and bury her swords in its neck—but the angle that the Titan was falling caused her to miss its nape by a meter or so. Cursing under her breath, she tried to redirect herself to where Gunther was standing, waiting for an opening.

"Fat bastard," Yavena grumbled once she was next to him.

Gunther chuckled—the Titan hit the ground with a large _thud,_ which left the back of its neck vulnerable. He followed up Yavena's attack with one of his own; the difference was that Gunther was successful. A jet of steam was expelled from its mauled neck.

On the other side of the building, the second Titan's body hit the ground with another loud _thump._

"Looks like we won our battle first," Gunther said, smirking somewhat as Petra, Olou, and Eld regrouped with them.

Petra frowned. "Ahhh, that's not fair! You have the Captain!"

But Levi did not say anything. He raised a hand in a gesture for silence and squinted off into the distance.

Yavena was confused; but then she realized what he was looking for. Even though those two Titans had been defeated, the ground was still shaking…

From where Squad Levi had ridden, a large body of horses and Scout Regiment members appeared—and following them were a half-dozen Titans, in an open area where none of the soldiers could properly use their ODM gear.

Levi wasted no time in shooting another green smoke signal into the air to help direct the Scouts to where the building was located, and where six perfectly viable soldiers were waiting with advantageous positioning.

The far-off swarm of horses and men began heading slightly west, following the sign. But the Titans had caught up to them by this time, and many of them were reaching down and grabbing horse and man alike—

"Hange," Yavena whispered. This was the first attack from Titans that they were not together, the first one that she was unable to protect them from the start—she raised her hand to whistle for her horse, but Levi lunged out and grabbed her wrist.

"You will not be able to help," he said, eyes sharp. "Hange and the others must make it to us if we are to have any impact. You will stay here in the trees."

Although Yavena knew that he was right, she still started to feel the ice creep through her veins again. While Hange had always been one of the Scout Regiment's top soldiers, it was not due to her combat skills. Hange was perhaps the most intelligent person she had ever met, was one of the best strategists—but when it came to physically fighting Titans…

There was a reason that in the Year 848, Commander Erwin had asked Yavena to protect them.

"Luckily for us, it seems the Titans are almost in a line," said Levi, tilting his head to the side. "We'll split into three groups. Gunther and Eld, you take the left side. Petra and Olou will take the right. Yavena and I will handle the middle."

Yavena glanced at the Captain from the corner of her eye. She figured that he was evaluating her progress so far on the squad, which wasn't entirely surprising. But she nodded at his command and clenched her jaw, hoping that she would be able to see Hange soon.

As the Titans drew closer to the trees, Yavena was forced to reach out and grab a branch to keep herself steady. It seemed that most of the Titans were slightly larger than average size—two of them had deformed faces, and another already had blood splattered across its maw…

"Now."

Petra and Olou, Gunther and Eld leapt off of the branch in the directions that Levi had designated for them. Yavena did the same, charging the Titan that was directly in the center of the line-up, the one that had blood across its mouth.

After ten years in the Scout Regiment, Yavena had grown accustomed to the sound of battle. The fields were always filled with screaming, whether they be battle-cries from those who hadn't yet given up, commands from the officers, or begs for mercy from those overwhelmed by fear. She had long since blocked out the sound of her comrades being eaten—if anyone were to dwell on it for too long, they would be driven mad.

It wasn't uncommon to see an incredible amount of bloodstains decorating the ground. Sometimes the soil would even be soft from how much of it had seeped into the grass. It was very common to see it upon a Titan's face, or even upon its teeth. And of course, there were always injuries upon some of the surviving soldiers. Yavena couldn't remember the last time they'd launched a mission without casualties… if it had ever happened at all.

Most of Yavena's battles so far had not been in such a tight-knit team. She and Hange would tackle a few of the Titans together in skirmishes… but fighting with Captain Levi was something else entirely.

The man was an artist on the battlefield, in a macabre sort of way. He would incapacitate the Titans by cutting off its hand—which prevented it from grabbing a soldier—or its fingers, or by blinding it with a swipe across the eyes. Yavena hardly had to work in order to finish off the Titans once Levi had already been by.

Even as she watched him, she found herself fascinated. She had considered herself a master of omni-directional gear until now; he was able to make the slightest curve or adjustment with ease. Every single move had purpose.

And although Captain Levi normally fought and killed Titans on his own, Yavena found that working alongside him was so incredibly simple. She had never trained with him before—he wasn't usually even in the courtyard during their training—but he had an uncanny way of reading her expression and her movements, which allowed him to compliment whatever she was about to do.

The battle was over just as quickly as it started. Yavena had been able to kill three of the Titans that had been pursuing the rest of the Scout Regiment thanks to her Captain's teamwork, and when she looked around, she saw Petra fell the last enemy that had still been standing.

When Levi next caught Yavena's eye, he nodded towards a free spot on the ground. They landed on it together, and the other four were quick to join them.

Commander Erwin and Hange wasted no time in riding up to greet them—Yavena heard herself exhale in relief upon seeing that her friend was alive and well.

Levi had been right: they were fine, and Yavena had been able to do more good by following his orders than she would've had she disobeyed and tried to find Hange earlier on.

"Good work, Levi," said Commander Erwin as he slung himself over the side of his steed. "With luck, this building will be secure enough for us to reestablish links further south of Wall Rose."

He waved an arm as an unmistakable gesture for Levi to follow—the Captain nodded to his squad and said, "Rest up for a moment," before turning aside.

As Hange moved to follow the Commander, Yavena reached out and grasped her friend's arm.

"You're all right?" Yavena heard herself ask. She noted that the Commander had turned around and was watching this encounter, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

"Aye," Hange said. The corner of their lips turned upwards. "But you needn't be worried, Yavena. I can handle myself."

Yavena exhaled softly, knowing that at the core of it, Hange was right. Although combat wasn't Hange's specialty, they were certainly smart enough to keep theirself from too many worrisome situations, and canny enough to formulate how best to take advantage of a quick engagement.

Even so, Yavena couldn't help from being worried—it _had_ been the first time that she had fought by someone else's side, throughout her entire thirteen years in the Scout Regiment…

"I'll be back in a bit," Hange said. They removed Yavena's hand from their arm, but not before squeezing it tightly. "Don't die in the meantime."

A tiny chuckle escaped Yavena's lips, although she went to follow the rest of Squad Levi in getting some shade underneath the trees still standing.

When she approached, Olou reached out and slapped a hand across her back. Yavena gasped somewhat by the forcefulness of the gesture, but Olou didn't seem to notice. "Look at that, the rookie got to fight with the Captain on her first mission! Why's he like you so much, eh? It took the rest of us at least two missions before he'd fight as a pair by our side."

"Wasn't he just evaluating my performance?" Yavena asked, surprised.

"Oh, he certainly _was,_ " Gunther promised. He tossed Yavena one of the water-skins he'd already gathered from a supply wagon; she wrestled the cap off and took a large drink. "But in Olou's and Petra's cases, he had them serve on two missions before he did the same for them."

Yavena took another sip of water and contented herself with a shrug. "Maybe I just need extra guidance for how the squad works or something…"

"Doubtful," Eld replied. "You're one of our veteran soldiers."

The next ten minutes or so were spent with the five of them lounging around underneath the tree. Yavena was listening to Olou recount his first mission on Squad Levi, and since this was before Petra had joined, both women were listening intently. Although it was obvious there had been a few exaggerated details—based on Eld and Gunther constantly rolling their eyes, it was probably more than a few—it was still a fascinating story.

"Let me get this straight," Petra said, crossing her arms. "So there were two dozen Titans charging directly at you, Eld, and Gunther, and you managed to kill _more_ of them than the Captain."

Eld snickered and shook his head.

"W-well," Olou stammered. "Maybe he had killed a few more than I remembered… it _was_ three years ago now…"

Yavena took a few steps away from the tree as Olou and Petra finally started their daily argument. She looked across the Scouts, assessing their behavior. Most of them were still standing tall, which meant they hadn't lost a significant amount of men this time. As to be expected, the new recruits weren't as shaken as they had been during their previous reconnaissance mission; it seemed that they were beginning to be well-acquainted with fear and death.

Although she knew such a thing was still horrible, all she could think was that this was good. Every year, the incoming recruits needed to be broken in a little before they were able to truly begin learning the ways of the Scout Regiment. The first three to six months were always given to them to become adjusted to a life of constant danger.

"Any news, Captain?" said Petra's voice.

When Yavena turned back around, she saw Levi walking back to them. Based on the dark lines to his face, she figured there was no good news.

"The Section-Commander says this building is on the verge of collapse," Levi reported, scowling somewhat. "We ride on for the next three hours in search of another base before returning to headquarters."

Olou clucked his tongue and Gunther sighed somewhat, but Yavena did not make her feelings known, even though she too was disappointed. Instead, she asked, "Will we be taking the forward scouting position again?"

"Aye. Finish your preparations and find your horses. We leave in five minutes."

Yavena nodded and whistled for her horse. While the others' horses were all within line of sight, it appeared that sometime during all the fighting, hers must have scampered far past the building and into some of the thin trees. Based on how long it took for her horse to respond to her call, she figured that it had been running for quite a while—

"Oh _no,_ " she groaned.

Her remonstrations caught the attention of her squad members. When they saw what Yavena did, they all groaned in sympathy.

Her horse's saddle had been lost somewhere, and there was no time to retrieve it.

Yavena bit her lip, but prepared to ride the horse bareback. She was certainly not looking forward to it—riding without a saddle was a guaranteed way to have lower back pain for the next week at minimum…

"Here."

Something was tossed in her direction—when Yavena caught it, she was surprised to see that it was one of the emergency pillions, meant specifically for double-riding. She stared at Levi as he said, "We'll tie your horse to one of the others. You may ride with me or one of the other squad members."

The Captain's face was neutral as always, but Yavena did not miss his offer. She was quite tempted to take him up on it as well—it could be an interesting opportunity to get to know something about him, whether it be when he first learned how to fight or what his last name was… after all, a mystery such as Levi would take many conversations to decipher.

But something stopped her. She felt her comrades almost _glaring_ into the back of her head, as though they were jealous of the attention she was receiving on her first mission within the squad. While Yavena was not responsible for Levi's generous offer, to say as much would only be to invite more scorn.

So she said, "Thank you, Captain. I'll ride with Eld."

Levi's expression did not change. "As you wish." He turned aside and began to withdraw some rope, clearly with the intention of tying Yavena's horse to Eld's. Once this was done, Levi glanced in the squad's direction and said, "I'll return shortly. Be ready when I do."

He walked over to where Commander Erwin was standing—the moment he was out of earshot, someone forcefully grabbed Yavena's arm and began storming her over to the tree where they had been standing a few minutes earlier. Yavena was shocked to see that it was Petra, and that there were dark shadows underneath her eyes.

"Petra, what's—"

"I don't get it," Petra blurted out. Although she was both shorter and younger than Yavena, whatever emotion she was feeling made her appear older and taller. It almost looked like she was angry… but there was something primal in her eyes that hinted more towards desperation. "Did something happen during your recruitment trial? None of us have heard the whole story yet, but I didn't—I mean, none of the rest of us were talked to or…"

As quickly as the words left Petra's mouth, they were stopped. The woman's face turned beet red and she stared at the ground.

Yavena was so confused she had no idea what to say… but as she looked over Petra's face, replayed her words in her mind… she figured she knew what had started such an emotional outburst.

Petra fancied Captain Levi; and no small amount, it would appear.

"I'm sorry," Petra said softly. When she looked back to Yavena, her face was its normal peachy color, and there was honest regret in her eyes. "I didn't mean to come across like that. I shouldn't be angry, I should be glad for you, that you've been accepted so readily into the team."

"Thank you, Petra," Yavena said, sensing the awkwardness from her friend. "You don't need to worry about it. Let's get ready to head out."

Petra nodded and grabbed one of Yavena's hands at her sides before walking them both back to the others.

When Yavena returned to Eld, she saw that he had a slight smile upon his face. He gently took the pillion from her hands and fastened it to the back of his saddle before taking his place and helping her behind him.

Once they six were ready, they spurred the horses onwards. Yavena's horse ran next to Eld's with no complaint—and as the woman gazed over some of the Scouts preparing to follow them, she caught Hange's eye.

Hange obviously did not miss the fact that Yavena and Eld were riding together, because they shot Yavena a thumbs-up and a cheesy grin.

Yavena smiled weakly back at them, knowing that Hange would grill her about the situation when they returned to the castle later that night. They would inquire whether things were beginning to move forward, if Yavena had thought of Eld in a more romantic light—

But the truth of the matter was that even though she had learned much more of Eld over the last couple of months, she still did not see him and immediately think of a man she could spend her entire life with. She was still of the opinion that he was a good man—perhaps one of the best she had ever known—but that did not mean she was on the verge of falling in love with him.

But it also did not mean that Yavena couldn't enjoy Eld's company; over the next hour and a half that they rode, they spoke with one another about the book that Yavena had lent him, of what they might do when Wall Maria was reclaimed, if there would be any promising recruits from the next graduating class of Cadet Corps.

"When will we be getting the next batch of recruits?" she asked.

"Three more months," Levi answered without looking back. "Hopefully they'll have stronger stomachs than the recruits this year."

Yavena laughed at this, if only because he was right. There had been more than one unfortunate soul that had lost their lunch after their first mission from the previous graduated class.

"I remember you telling a story about your first mission," said Eld. Yavena could not see his face, but she could tell that he was smiling. "You said you were one of four recruits who killed a Titan on their first day."

"What can I say? I was eager to impress. My mother and father were both Captains at that time. I didn't want to be known as the Vermans' daughter, I wanted to be known as Yavena."

Levi scoffed. "Tch. Keep going on like that and I might just start feeling guilty for calling you Pumpkin Head."

A crooked smile twisted Yavena's lips. "No you won't."

The ensuing silence told her that she was right, and she couldn't help but laugh again.

Before much longer, the three hours had passed. There had been one more building that was up for inspection; a large castle in a glen of trees. The trees meant that it had a great defensible position, and there was a ginormous courtyard in the middle of its walls.

Hange went inside with Levi and Commander Erwin to inspect its structure, to make sure that they would be able to use it as an appropriate supply base for the Scout Regiment.

It only took thirty minutes for them to reappear with the pronouncement that their mission had been a success: a large number of the soldiers cheered with this. Seeing as it was nearing sundown, Commander Erwin made the decision to return inside the Walls that evening, as he suspected Titans to be in the near vicinity.

"We will return to this base after our next reconnaissance mission," Yavena had overheard the Commander tell Captain Levi. "For now, we will not worry about cleaning or occupying it. Knowing that it is here is progress enough for the day."

As the Scouts were preparing to return to their current base, Yavena noticed Hange subtly beckoning her over. She groaned but followed the summons, figuring she'd rather get the interrogation over with sooner rather than later.

"So?" asked Hange as she approached. "Are there any developments I should know about?"

Yavena sighed exasperatedly. "No, Hange. My horse ran away from the battlefield earlier today and lost its saddle. Captain Levi gave me one of the emergency pillions and said I was welcome to ride with him or one of my other squad members."

Hange blinked. "But then why would you choose to ride with Eld, if you didn't like him?"

"Have you thought about the possibility that he's a good friend, Hange?"

"Pah. I was hoping you were giving some thought to finding someone to care about again. You deserve what joy you can find, Yavena."

This made Yavena bite her lip. She had already met two men while in the Scout Regiment and grown attached to them: Paul and Elias.

Paul she had met in her second year with the Scout Regiment, and he had been in his sixth. He was a good soldier, although Yavena's kill count quickly surpassed his own. But he didn't seem to mind—whenever somebody would tease him about how his girlfriend had slain more Titans than he, all Paul would say was, "That just means that the woman I love is strong."

He had been eaten a year and two months after they had been together. Yavena hadn't been able to save him… they were all the way across the battlefield. She didn't even know what had happened to him until one of his friends, Karl, plucked up the courage to tell her.

Three years after that had been Elias. He was one year younger than herself, kind and well-spoken. Other than Hange, Elias was one of the smartest people that Yavena had ever met, and she found herself stricken by his intelligence.

Elias, however, had been much harder to break through; just as she had been. It had taken Yavena seven months to unravel his mystery, although Elias also had to work to convince her that despite being in a death-ridden place, he still cared about her. Only when he declared that he wanted to be with her no matter the danger did she finally eradicate the last of her doubts and agree to begin their relationship… and only five months after _that,_ he had been pronounced as missing in action. Yavena still didn't know what fate had befallen him.

She had given up after that; being alone was easier. It didn't hurt as much.

"I don't know, Hange," Yavena said. She scratched at the back of her neck and was unable to look her friend in the eye. "I'm just not sure."

Hange's expression melted from curious into empathetic. They said nothing, but reached out and gave Yavena a tight embrace.

Yavena closed her eyes and leaned into her friend. Hange was considerably taller than she was, but she didn't mind. It just meant that in order to hug them properly, she had to bury her face in the crook of Hange's neck.

"Time to go, Pumpkin Head."

She retreated from Hange's hold and looked over to see Captain Levi waving an arm forth. Knowing that it was time to return home, Yavena shot Hange one last smile and returned to Eld's side, accepting his help in saddling the horse.

Within the next few minutes, the Scout Regiment was riding again. Yavena found herself watching the far-off sunset, never mind the fact that watching the sun for too long made her eyes water.

The silence between Squad Levi was broken only once the sun had disappeared over the hills.

"Oye, Yavena!" called Olou. "Did you think of a nickname for me to call you yet?"

She had not—but truthfully, she didn't need to think too hard on the matter.

"Mystery," she said.

Olou raised an eyebrow. "Mystery?"

"Yes." She looked back to Olou and smiled. "I read a lot of books as a child, and was hooked by their stories. I've always been drawn to mysteries because of it; why things were happening, what would be next. Unraveling layers of a question's answer is one of the most satisfying things to me. It's why I've been so obsessed with learning about the outside world: what's beyond the Walls, where the Titans come from, why they hunt us…"

She trailed off, her eyes fixed on the moon that was but a sliver of silver high in the sky.

"Is there no more to it?" asked Gunther.

"There is," Yavena replied. Her dark eyes shone in the reflected light of the stars, and Gunther and the others were able to see this as she said, "More precious to me is the process of unraveling _people._ Everyone has some degree of mystery about them; everyone has walls. Some people are easy to see past—they are open, and it is easy to understand who they really are. But some people are not. Their walls are higher than others. A lot of people won't stick around to try to climb that wall, or see through it, or break it down. They turn away… they decide it's not worth the effort. But me? I have never been one to shy away from a mystery. Gaining someone's trust, being allowed to unravel someone's walls layer by layer, piece by piece, being allowed to see who they are at their very core… there is nothing more rewarding to me than that."

Yavena opened her eyes and looked across her squad-mates; Gunther was nodding somewhat, and Petra's eyes were shining with her own thoughts. Her gaze trailed over Captain Levi—she was surprised to see he had been watching her over his shoulder. The moment she noticed this, however, he turned back around to focus on their journey across the plains.

A contemplative silence arrived in the wake of Yavena's words. All she could hear was the sound of the horse's hooves as they ran across the plains, and the chirping of insects that only came out at night.

It was Eld who broke the stillness by saying, "I've never heard it expressed like that before. But… it was well done."

"Mystery it is, then," said Olou.

Yavena was pleasantly surprised by the fact that he had accepted her suggestion without an argument—she'd been rather sure that he'd try to nickname her something along the lines of 'Pumpkin Head.'

But he had not done that, and Yavena was grateful.

The Scout Regiment returned to their base close to midnight, which meant that it had been almost twenty-four hours since anyone had gotten any sleep. But there was still work to do: the horses needed to be stabled and the saddles stored, and unfortunately for Yavena and the others, it was Squad Levi's turn to do so.

Each of the scouts thanked Yavena as she took their saddles and stored them back in the barn attached to their castle. They made a system to make the task easier: Petra and Yavena would store the saddles, and Olou, Gunther, and Eld would put the horses in their stalls. Captain Levi cleaned the saddles that had been splashed with blood or mud from the battle earlier in the day.

With the six of them focused on the work, they were free to go to bed in the next two hours. Petra and Olou, restraining yawns, were the first to wish everyone good night. They were followed by Gunther, who simply waved farewell, and then Eld, who smiled at Yavena and said, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Yavena exhaled as she checked the saddles one last time. Satisfied that they were stored well, she too figured it was time for sleep.

"Good night, Captain," she said, turning to leave.

"Good night, Mystery."

She whirled around, dark eyes wide. Captain Levi was brushing his horse's mane with one of the two soft-bristled brushes, not looking at her; and it didn't seem that he was in any rush to do so.

Yavena simply smiled to herself and left the stables.


	5. -Reconnaissance Mission 56-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! I promise I won't have an author's note at the beginning of each chapter, but I decided to put one because I'm introducing some canon material from the OVA episodes here! I switched up a number of details for my own story with Yavena and all, but it should be largely faithful to the series itself, and I just wanted to put that little notice in there :)
> 
> I hope everyone's still staying safe. Take care of yourselves!
> 
> (Also sorry i totally realized late that I accidentally uploaded the wrong chapter so hopefully no one has noticed that blunder heh)

* * *

The Scout Regiment did not have long to rest. Only two weeks after they had returned from their fifty-fifth reconnaissance mission did Commander Erwin state that in one more week, they would be riding out of the castle once again to clear out any Titans that could possibly be en route to where the new supply base was located.

Olou groaned when he heard the news, muttering, "I was hoping to wait for the next shipment of wine to get here, at least," before grabbing himself another biscuit to make himself feel better.

Yavena, however, was not as bothered by the announcement as Olou and some of the newer soldiers. On the contrary, she was glad for the progress—if they were able to secure that new base, more operations to eliminate Titans could be conducted, and the Scout Regiment would be that much closer to reclaiming Wall Maria.

There was also the fact that Hange still needed to capture a Titan, and based on the objective of the upcoming exploration, this venture outside the Walls would be a perfect time to do so. According to Hange, the Commander had taken the blueprints of all the different traps from Captain Levi with the statement, "I will consider it."

"That's as good as a yes!" Hange exclaimed, excitedly throwing a fist to the air. "We'll finally be able to make some _real_ progress!"

While Yavena did not see how the Commander considering Hange's proposition was an automatic go-ahead, the last thing she wished to do was say as much and dampen her friend's good mood.

In the week that followed, Yavena made sure to redouble her efforts during training for two reasons: the first being that she wished to be prepared for her second mission in the Special Operations squad, the second being that Captain Levi was now overseeing their preparations every other day.

In fact, Yavena couldn't help noting that Levi was around more often than not in the following days. While his demeanor had not changed much at all, there was definitely something different about his presence. It took Yavena three days to place it, and when she finally realized what it was, she couldn't believe that it had taken her so long.

Captain Levi no longer had an aura of cold energy around him. He was still quiet and closed-off, but there was no longer that defense mechanism around his person—Yavena no longer felt as though there was a chill between them all. If she really wanted, she could address him during conversations and ask him questions about the upcoming missions beyond the Walls; and unlike the prior three months, now, he would answer.

Yavena did not know if the others had picked up on this miniscule level of progress. Based on the way they were all acting the way that they normally had, she gathered that they didn't. Even if they did notice, none of them seemed to care.

But _she_ did. For her, this was a tremendous victory.

* * *

Three weeks after the Scout Regiment had returned from its previous mission, the veteran officers were lined up upon their horses outside the gates of Wall Rose. The rookies had been exempted from the mission at last minute, and this adjustment meant that Hange would be able to ride close to Squad Levi if she wished. Both Hange and Yavena were thrilled for it.

So it was that Yavena was positioned upon her horse in between Hange and Levi, with Eld on Levi's other side and Petra, Gunther, and Olou just behind them. Commander Erwin was positioned just ahead of them, and once he gathered that it was time for the Regiment to move out, he called, "Thirty seconds until the gates are opened! All personnel prepare to depart!"

Hange groaned as the seconds ticked by. They had been telling Yavena almost nonstop the last few days that this was going to be the mission that Commander Erwin approved their proposal. Hange was so excited, they were squirming in their seat and moaning, "Aww, I'm tired of waiting… Oye, Levi—"

"No."

"Huh? I haven't even said anything yet!"

"You're going to ask me to help capture a Titan with you, right?" said Levi, casting Hange a disdainful glance. "The Commander hasn't approved it yet, and until he does, I'll have no part of it."

Hange scowled in the Captain's direction before looking past him towards his second in command. "What about you, Eld, want to give it a go?"

Eld chuckled and shook his head.

Instead of being disappointed, Hange just sighed and looked at Yavena with a knowing glint in their eye. "The same boring answer from the same boring men, eh?"

Hange and Yavena began giggling with one another; Yavena could _feel_ Levi rolling his eyes at them.

They were broken from their childish amusement upon hearing Commander Erwin declare, "The Fifty-Sixth Mission Beyond the Walls begins _now!_ Forward!" and spur his horse through the open gates of Wall Rose.

Yavena wasted no time in following after him, and neither did Hange. The two soldiers roared forth, directly on the Commander's heels. While Yavena had no personal fascination with Titans, her friend's excitement was contagious, and she found herself grinning wildly—and then laughing once more as Hange cried, "Ya-haaaa!" and sped up their horse even beyond the Commander's.

"Hange!" said the Commander.

"All you Titans out there, I'm on my way to meet you!"

Not one to be left behind, Yavena cried, "Hange, wait up!" and clicked her heels into her horse's side. She ignored Captain Levi scoffing behind her, choosing instead to absorb what joy she could on a death-defying mission, and to ride alongside Hange as they both took the front-guard.

The Scout Regiment rode on for approximately two hours before coming across their first bout of Titans. There were six or seven of them in the five-meter class; as soon as they appeared, Yavena retreated to where Captain Levi was positioned, Hange following after her.

"Are you coming with us?" Yavena asked as she neared her squad, feeling hope welling in her heart. It hadn't quite been the same, fighting without her best friend by her side…

Hange shot her a grin and answered, "Well of course! My team will fight alongside yours." And true to their word, four of Hange's squad members joined them as they all rode in the direction of Squad Levi.

"One of those morons is an Abnormal," Levi was saying as Yavena rode up. "I'll take care of that one. Olou, you and Yavena are going to head off the three Titans on the left—they're coming in from the side, which means if unchecked, they could flank Squad Rashad. Petra, Gunther, Eld: use your best judgment."

"Aye!" they all shouted.

Olou caught Yavena's eye and wiggled an eyebrow. "Finally, I get to fight with you!"

Yavena couldn't help laughing, even though she also rolled her eyes. She jerked her head in the direction that Levi had directed them towards, and then they were off. From somewhere behind her, Yavena heard Hange ordering their squad to split off in a similar fashion to Levi's—and only a few seconds afterwards, Hange was by Yavena's side again, saying, "Oye, you didn't think you were getting away so easily now, did you?"

"I knew you'd catch up," replied Yavena.

She fixed her eyes upon the three Titans that were flanking the left side of the Regiment. As her Captain had speculated, they were trying to close in around Lieutenant Rashad's men—fire coursed her being as Olou exclaimed, "I'll take care of the big one! You've always been better at the smaller ones anyway."

"Aye!" she said, and she narrowed her eyes. The two smaller Titans were fast; they'd already grabbed two men out of the air and were starting to raise them to their mouths—

Yavena balanced herself upon her horse's saddle and jumped. Time seemed to slow as she rocketed forward; she had to make a choice here. Two men were grabbed by two Titans—and she could not be in two places at once.

There was no time to hesitate. She spared only one swift glance to the man trapped in the Titan's hand on the left and think, _I'm sorry_.

Then she drove her gear's cables into the right Titan's bicep. The man in its grasp was so close to the Titan's maw already…

She landed on its shoulder, sprinted forth as fast as her legs could carry her, and dug her blades into its nape.

The Titan's grip around the man loosened. She leapt off of its body towards the falling soldier and caught him before he could hit the ground.

Upon feeling the sudden break from falling, the man looked up at her in awe. Mouth agape, he whimpered, "Lieutenant V-Verman! You… you saved me?"

There was a horrific _crunch_ from somewhere behind them; Yavena cringed as she knew that the other man held by the other Titan had just been eaten. But she had done her best. She had saved one, at least, and that was already better than none. Vacillating on if there might have been a way to save them both would only drive her mad.

After steadying herself on a high branch, Yavena carefully sat the man down and commanded, "Stay here. You've likely got bruised or broken ribs."

Without waiting for his response, Yavena jumped off the branch of the tree and directed herself towards Hange, who was shouting, "Which one of you wants to come home with me?" just a few meters below.

"Hange!" Yavena cried. She spiraled in the air, slicing through the smaller Titan's legs with ease. The Titan did not cry out as it fell towards the ground; one of the few things that the Scout Regiment _had_ discovered about Titans was that they were much more resilient to pain than humans. "Finish it!"

Although she knew that Hange would've preferred to capture it, the Titan still had its arms—and those were the most dangerous limbs upon its body. Yavena watched as her friend calculated the exact angle to slice its nape; once the body was steaming upon the ground, she nodded towards the center of the Regiment's formation.

Hange followed her gaze and saw what Yavena did: they'd taken care of the three Titans flanking the Regiment, but there were still two large Titans barreling through the center ranks, and both Squad Levi and Squad Hange were preoccupied.

They launched themselves forward, although as they flew through the air, Hange was saying, "Look at the _teeth_ on that one! They're sharper than most other Titans—Yavena, do you think we could—"

"A smaller one might be better!" Yavena interrupted. She gasped and threaded herself through the fingers of a large Titan reaching for her—when she looked back, she saw Olou slice through its nape.

"Hah- _HAH!_ " shouted Olou. He quickly joined the two, wiggling a suggestive eyebrow as he did so. "Did you see that one, Mystery? Solo kills _are_ my specialty, you know, I have over—"

"Over forty now, yes, I know," Yavena finished. Although Olou had grown less conceited on most things, one thing he would still flaunt to anyone who would listen was how many Titans he had killed without a team. But dismissing his accomplishment would be a disservice, not to mention that to act as though she wasn't interested was sure to spark an argument. "It's very impressive."

Olou had a smug look on his face with that.

They reached the large Titans without further obstruction: Olou pointed towards their arms and exclaimed, "Mystery, can you saw those off? Once you do, I'll have a clear shot at its neck!"

"Aye!"

Yavena changed her gear's course to the Titans' arms. Based on the steaming cuts across its muscles, she guessed that a few soldiers had already attempted to take them off, but didn't quite manage it. At least that progress would help _her._

As she neared the Titan, however, it started to lean down—it wasn't using its hands anymore to grab people, it was trying to bite them directly out of the sky…

Yavena knew that she could take its arms off at any time. There was something more important she had to do first. With a ferocious scream, she barreled directly towards the Titan's face and threw her swords across its eyes.

The Titan's eyes burst, causing Titan blood to splash everywhere. Some of it got on Yavena's jacket, as well as the left side of her body.

" _Blech!_ " she spat, wiping the accursed liquid off of her face. When Yavena looked back, however, she saw that she'd blinded the Titan—it was no longer able to search for a meal so easily.

She was about to turn around for a second attempt—but a jet of black had just followed her path and effectively cut off its arms from the elbow down. Some of the soldiers and horses below had to scatter to avoid being crushed, but all of them were able to make it.

Olou, seeing his opportunity, rocketed forward. Yavena could see firsthand that his boasting was not unfounded; there was no denying his skill based on how quickly and cleanly he finished off both of the large Titans that were still alive.

The Titans fell to the ground, forcing even more grounded soldiers to scamper away from the impact zone. The ground shook wildly as they simultaneously buckled, and then it was over.

Yavena looked to her side to see that it had been Captain Levi to saw their arms off, and that he was already busy cleaning his swords free of blood. She began to follow suit, seeing as she had been given a rather unwanted shower with that last attack…

Only to realize that one handkerchief wouldn't cut it.

"Eh, Captain?"

Levi glanced at her.

She gestured to the cloth he was using. "Happen to have any more of those?"

He looked her up and down and wordlessly began to search his jacket, pulling no less than five handkerchiefs from his uniform's pockets.

Yavena gaped at him and exclaimed, "How many of those do you _have?_ "

"Enough."

This was a fair answer. Yavena took them from him with a nod of thanks and proceeded to scrub as much Titan blood away from her person and her uniform as possible, grumbling under her breath about how disgusting those Titans were even _if_ their blood eventually evaporated, and how a bath couldn't come soon enough—

"Clean Freak."

She glared at Levi, who looked as though he was on the verge of smirking.

Unfortunately, there was no time for a rebuttal. Commander Erwin's voice was ringing out over the crowd, stating that they would be continuing southwest on their mission in less than sixty seconds.

"Come on," the Captain said, tilting his head to where the remainder of the squad was gathered. "You can finish that later."

Although Yavena didn't want to be sticky for a moment longer than necessary, she knew that Levi was right. And so, restraining a heavy sigh, she followed him over to where their horses were waiting.

Fortunately for her, her horse's saddle had remained _on_ during this battle. After restocking her gas tank and changing her blades, Yavena was ready to head out. Upon Captain Levi's orders, she followed him and Eld, keeping Petra and Gunther on her other side, and Olou slightly further down.

The Scout Regiment continued its path for the next few hours, keeping a sharp eye out for more Titans. They were lucky, seeing as that first battle had been the only one they'd come across as of yet.

As Yavena was glancing around to see how many horses no longer had riders—she noted about eight or so—her eyes landed on the man that she'd saved from earlier. He was relatively young… she would guess no more than twenty-two years of age. Bandages had been wrapped around his torso; she hoped that he wasn't in too much discomfort, being forced to ride upon horseback for so long.

"Oye, Mystery."

Yavena looked back to Olou to see him handing something in her direction; it was a full water-skin.

"Maybe you can get some more of that blood out of your hair."

"It's in my _hair?!_ " she shrieked, immediately grabbing the ends of her hair. Despite the nickname her Captain had given her, Yavena's favorite feature of herself was her fiery orange hair—and true to Olou's word, she noted that there were splotches of an ugly red spread throughout it. "Damnation!"

The others all began to laugh, save for Levi, who had never once laughed in her presence.

"Don't worry about it, Yavena," said Petra, offering her a sympathetic smile. "I'm sure it'll wash out with no trouble once we make it back to the castle."

Across from her, Eld smirked somewhat. "Maybe I should start calling you 'Cherry Face' in honor of this moment."

"If you do that, Eld, I'll—I'll…"

But what Yavena would do, she wasn't quite sure. She decided to leave it to the imagination, taking great care to shoot Levi's second in command an evil eye.

He just chuckled and returned his attention to the journey.

It was only another ten minutes before the Scout Regiment found themselves in a village. It was surprisingly undamaged, save for a few buildings that were missing some roofs or doors. The streets were well kept, too, even after five years of being in the territory of Titans.

"All personnel, halt! We establish camp here for the remainder of the day," said Erwin's voice.

The horses all stopped in the midst of the village's main street. There were even some stables within which their steeds could rest—Squad Levi quickly claimed the stalls closest to where Commander Erwin was going to set up his personal tent, with Hange and their research team following suit.

Eld quickly distributed orders for Yavena and the others to begin restocking the village storeroom with gas tanks and preserved rations. He said that since this was the halfway point between the two bases, the village would settle as a supply output for whenever officers or recruits needed to travel between the other. While Eld and Gunther went to carry barrels of food and water over to the storeroom, Yavena, Petra, and Olou began setting up stations where the soldiers could sharpen or fix their blades. Hange decided to assist in their efforts, sending half of her squad to help Eld and keeping the other half nearby with the weapon stations.

With the extra assistance, the restocking was almost done in a matter of two hours. Soldiers of the Regiment were already taking advantage of the new supply base by refilling their gas tanks and switching their dulled weapons for sharp ones. Yavena started to follow suit, seeing as she had used up four blades entirely and thus only had four left.

That was when she noticed Hange had frozen. When Yavena followed her friend's gaze, she saw Commander Erwin had finished setting up his station and was speaking with some of his other high-ranking officers.

"Wish me luck, Yavena," Hange said without looking at her. "I'm going to ask him now."

"Good luck," Yavena whispered back. She hoped that Hange's earlier optimism wouldn't betray them…

But based on what Yavena was overhearing in only another minute, she inferred that Erwin had still not been swayed on the matter of capturing a Titan.

"Think about it, Erwin!" exclaimed Hange's voice. They did not seem interested in keeping their tone free from emotion, or their volume low. "I understand that setting up supply bases takes priority, but uncovering the true nature of the Titans has always been our primary objective! I'm sure you're aware of that!"

Yavena wasn't the only one to hear this: Petra and Olou had stopped what they were doing to watch the scene by the Commander's tent.

One of Hange's squad members placed a hand upon their shoulder and hesitantly interjected, "Eh, Section-Commander… it's probably not a good idea to talk to the Commander in that tone—"

"Shut the hell up!"

Yavena's eyes widened. Not often did Hange lose their temper, but when they did, it was a fearsome thing to behold.

Hange slammed a fist upon Erwin's desk and continued, "We need to capture a Titan alive above anything else! I know that it seems impossible. After all, the last time we took one alive was more than fifteen years ago, and more than twenty people died in order to pull it off. But we cannot get any intel if we are afraid of making sacrifices!"

Commander Erwin eyed Hange with a careful neutrality. "Do we really have to go through this again? We don't have the manpower to spare for a capture mission. Even getting this far today cost us eight men."

"I know that! But—"

"Hange. Your proposal is rejected."

There was a certain finality with his words; Commander Erwin began to walk away from Hange, a number of important documents in his hand.

"Wait! Erwin!"

Hange stumbled forth, looking incredibly defeated. Yavena clapped a hand on her friend's shoulder, also watching the Commander go. Although capturing a Titan hadn't been Yavena's own dream and goal, she felt bitter disappointment on behalf of her friend nonetheless.

While Yavena didn't speak for fear of making Hange feel even worse, it appeared that Olou didn't have the same restraints. With a scoff that was clearly supposed to imitate Captain Levi's, he said, "It's no use, Section-Commander. We put our lives on the line just trying to kill the damn things. There's no way we can take one alive."

Yavena knew what was about to happen the second before it did.

Hange lunged forward and grabbed Olou by the collar, lifting him off the ground. Caught by surprise, Olou began to choke—Petra gasped at the action and cried, "Hange!"

"Think about _this,_ Olou," said Hange, their voice low and dark. "Let's say Levi's coming and he's dead set on killing you. What would you do? Can you fight him and survive?"

Olou gagged, but somehow managed to say, "Of course not. Oye, Hange—I can't breathe…"

"Want me to tell you how you can win that fight? You do your homework." Hange's eyes glittered with a fascinated malice. "You find out the place he works. The food he hates, the type of girl he likes, the number of times he takes a damn piss. You find out _everything_ you can about him. Once you know him, you can find a weakness to exploit. If you don't do that before you fight… you die for sure."

While Yavena knew that Hange's words revealed an intense message, she noted that Olou was still choking, still unable to breathe—she darted forth and grabbed Hange's wrists, stopping them from grasping at Olou's collar.

Olou fell back down to the ground, coughing incessantly.

Hange blinked as they looked at him, and then at Yavena. "Thanks," they whispered in Yavena's direction. Then they turned back to Olou and added, "My bad, Olou. But you get my point, right?"

With that, Hange began to walk away. Yavena had half a mind to follow them and try to cheer them up, but she knew Hange: in cases of severe distress like this, it was usually safe to let them go for a little while…

"Fuck, they damn near killed me," Olou groaned, massaging his neck. He took the hand that Yavena had outstretched and hauled himself to his feet. "They're insane—they belong in a damn nuthouse!"

Yavena frowned, wanting to argue, but figured that she didn't have the heart for it after Olou had nearly been suffocated.

For better or worse, Petra took the matter in hand. "You're part of the Scout Regiment, you know. So could you do something about that barbaric way of speaking?"

"Huh? Why do _I_ get the lecture?"

That was the moment Yavena decided to walk away. She knew what was coming and wanted _no_ part of it—instead of suffering the familiar yells and retorts, she walked over to where Eld and Gunther were still hard at work.

"They're going at it again?" asked Eld as Yavena approached.

She restrained a sigh and nodded.

Eld scowled and said, "I'll go break it up, then. They'll never finish restocking if they start that bullshit now."

Before he could take another step forward, however, a deafening _crack_ split the air. Yavena jerked to see where the sound had come from—Section-Commander Miche had just fired an acoustic shell into the air while atop the roofs of the village. He was glaring at something far out in the trees…

Then there was the creaking of branches; the unmistakable sound of trees falling—

"There's movement in the forest!" shouted Miche.

Commander Erwin looked over those assembled in the village square, all of whom were waiting for his orders. He raised an arm and directed, "All personnel, prepare for battle!"

Eld and Yavena rushed towards the stations to fill up their gas tanks and make sure that everything was ready—but then Yavena heard Hange's voice from somewhere close by shout, "Erwin! I'm going on ahead!"

Yavena gasped and looked over to where Hange was. Her friend was grabbing a horse, a manic glint in their eye as they threw theirself into the saddle.

There was no doubt in Yavena's mind what she had to do. The sounds of her comrades preparing for battle were lost as she sprinted forth and with all her strength, launched herself behind Hange upon the horse.

"Hange, wait!" cried Commander Erwin's voice.

"Yavena!"

She looked behind her to see that Captain Levi had been the one to call her name. But he was already being left far behind. Hange had spurred their heels into the horse's side, and the two were on their way to the forest.

As they drew further away, Hange looked behind them and laughed. "Yavena! Decided to come with me?"

Yavena kept her arms tight around Hange's waist, trying to ignore the fact that she'd have a horrid backache later—it was her penance for making a split-second decision instead of just checking up on her friend. Nonetheless, she replied, "Of course I am! We've been planning this together, remember?"

Hange beamed at her, and they continued on into the forest.

It did not take long to find one of the Titans. The Titan in question was facing away from them, crouched and hunched over—it seemed to be a six-meter class, with blondish hair and a thick skull.

"Oye, found you!" Hange cried. They spurred their horse towards the Titan, which prompted Yavena to yelp and readjust her seating.

"Hange! How are we going to capture it?"

But Hange did not answer. Their attention was solely on the Titan ahead: the Titan that was surprisingly not chasing, but simply watching as they cried, "Nice weather we're having, huh?"

 _Now_ the Titan attempted to swipe at them. Yavena ducked as Hange deftly reined the horse to the left.

"Oooh, that was close!" Hange cried. With another dig of their heels, the horse ran forward, through the thick setting of trees. "Would you like to come inside the Wall with me? What do you say?"

Yavena, not wishing to endure the agony of riding bareback any longer, leapt off of the horse and began using her omni-directional gear to help her maneuver through the forest. As Hange looked back to see where Yavena had gone, she cried, "I'm going to keep an eye on you from up here! But if anything happens to you, Hange, I'm going to kill it, understand?"

Hange glanced up and found Yavena in the forest canopy. They nodded resolutely to show that they had heard before glancing back at the Titan and saying, "Come this way, then! I don't want you to be hurt—you know, you look like a Jonny to me!"

There was a mighty _crack_ which prompted Yavena to land in one of the tall branches. When she turned around, she was both shocked and amused to see that the Titan "Jonny" had just run face-first into one of the trees… and she couldn't help sniggering upon hearing Hange cry, "Uh-oh, are you okay?"

"I don't think the Titan understands you, Hange," Yavena muttered to herself, although she knew that even if her friend had heard her, that they wouldn't care.

The chase continued on for another minute and some extra seconds. Hange and their horse broke through the trees and began running along the border of the forest so Yavena could still follow.

"Come this way!" Hange said encouragingly, grinning back at the Titan. "That's it!"

The air was split by the sound of a smoke signal shot—Yavena glanced over to see Captain Levi and the others approaching. It was the Captain that held the smoke gun, glaring at the Titan in that familiar way of his.

"Oye, stay out of my way!" Hange cried, narrowing their eyes at Squad Levi. "I can handle this!"

The Titan seemed to be confused. It looked between Hange and the other five on horseback… and then it started to pursue Hange once again, which also prompted Yavena to continue flying through the tops of the forest.

It seemed that the Titan was no longer running as determinedly as it had been before, however. Despite Hange's encouragement and taunting, it began to slow down—and then stop entirely.

Yavena too stopped in one of the branches, narrowing her eyes. She tried to observe the Titan, to try and determine if it was an Abnormal… after all, most Titans wouldn't stop in the middle of a chase. They would simply continue until they ate, or they were killed…

"What? W-wait!" said Hange.

The Titan had begun running back into the forest; not in the direction of Captain Levi and the others, but back to where Yavena and Hange had found the Titan in the first place.

Without checking in on Yavena, Hange yelled, "Where are you going?" and spurred their horse after it.

"Hange!"

Once again, Yavena was unheard. She had no choice except to continue using all of her gas on navigating through the trees. To keep a better eye on Hange and the Titan, she lowered herself closer to the ground. But this was proving just as difficult, as there were plenty of thin, sharp branches that Yavena had to avoid. She yelped as one of those twigs scratched her across the cheek, tearing some of the skin away. But she had suffered worse, even if the cut stung like a bitch.

The Titan eventually stopped running when it had reached a clearing. The trees surrounded this glen in almost a perfect circle; little white flowers decorated the ground. In the middle of the clearing sat a giant tree, one larger than all of the rest. Its stump alone was large enough for two people to stand within.

Yavena's breath hitched in her throat at the beauty and peacefulness of the place. If her suspicions were right, she'd almost say that the Titan had led the two to its _home…_

"What are you doing? Is this the place you wanted to go to?"

Yavena gasped as she looked back to Hange, who had removed theirself from the horse's saddle—they were now on foot, standing only a few meters away from the Titan, which was staring at the giant tree in the middle of the glen.

The Titan turned to face Hange and bowed its head. Yavena was about to swoop over and pluck her friend off of the ground, but Hange, sensing her discomfort, raised a hand to signal Yavena to stay put.

Ice began to flood Yavena's blood; colder and harsher than usual.

A low moan broke the stillness. Both of the Scout Regiment soldiers were shocked to hear that it had emanated from the _Titan._ Its moans grew louder, and it threw its hands above its head, as if it were trying to protect itself from something…

"What is it?" murmured Hange. "What's wrong? I'll hear you out."

"Hange…" Yavena whispered. She could watch from the sidelines no longer—she used her gear to land next to her friend, feeling her heart pounding in every centimeter of her body.

The Titan began to shake; Yavena and Hange were utterly still…

But then there was a twitch in its arm, something more than a regular spasm.

" _HANGE!_ " Yavena shrieked. She pushed them to the ground—

All of the air was expelled from Yavena's lungs; a curtain of black overcame her vision. When it returned, she realized that she couldn't move, she was stuck: the Titan held her in its grasp, its face mere meters from her own, and based on how uncomfortable she was, she realized it was starting to _squeeze._ Despite the ringing in her ears, somewhere behind her Yavena could hear Hange scream—

As soon as the pressure had arrived, it was gone—a rain of blood showered her for the second time in the day. Still enwrapped in the Titan's hand, she hit the ground hard.

Yavena gasped as the wind was once again knocked out of her. When she looked back to the Titan, she saw the silhouette of Captain Levi standing atop its neck, swinging his blades directly into its nape.

The Titan groaned and fell face-first to the ground.

There was no silence after it had been killed. Levi wiped his blades clean by shoving them into the grass before purposefully walking over to Yavena. "Are you all right?" He extended a hand in her direction, and Yavena took it, shakily climbing out of the Titan's disembodied palm.

Yavena wanted to appear unfazed by what had just happened, but the fact was that it had been a close call. The difficulty with which she was breathing, the soreness to her sides, the blood rushing through her brain: all of that together told her she was _very_ lucky.

If her Captain hadn't followed… if he'd just let herself and Hange go…

Even so, Yavena swallowed and forced herself to reply, "I think my ribs are bruised, maybe broken, but… I'll be fine. Thank you, Levi."

The Captain made no move to acknowledge that he had heard what Yavena had said. Instead, he turned back towards Hange, who had sunk to their knees while staring at the Titan's corpse. Their face was full of shock and disbelief… and guilt.

None of those things were helped as Levi's eyes flashed; he stormed forward and gripped them tightly around the collar, hauling them up from the ground.

"Captain!" Yavena cried out, but she was unheard.

"What the hell was that stunt for?" he demanded.

Hange swallowed hard. "I—the Titan could've been an important specimen! If we could've captured him, humanity might have taken the next step forward—"

"You four-eyed bitch!" Levi roared. There was some kind of mania in his face, and Yavena felt her eyes go wide. She'd never seen him as unhinged as he was in that moment. "If you want to end up as Titan shit, I won't stop you. But don't you _dare_ drag Yavena into it—don't you _ever_ endanger the lives of my soldiers!"

Hearing these last sentences, Yavena knew she had to intervene. Hange didn't deserve to be blamed for a decision that she herself had made… and so, hoping that Levi wouldn't despise her for it, she stepped forward and murmured, "Captain, Hange did not drag me anywhere. I chose to go with them."

Levi glared at her over his shoulder, but before he could say anything, Hange helpfully said, "Levi, Titans don't defecate. They don't have digestive systems."

All was silent in the glen for one tense second, but then… she couldn't help it—leave it to Hange to try to educate Captain Levi on the anatomy of Titans, even while he suspended them from the ground by their jacket collar. Yavena began to laugh; as soon as she started, she stopped. Shooting stabs of pain laced up and down her torso, making her throw a hand to her ribs with a groan.

Levi tossed Hange back down to the ground and glanced at Yavena with the barest hint of concern—upon seeing that she was recuperating again, he spat, "And you!" His silver eyes were now narrowed in a ferocious glare. "You're a fucking moron. I should've known there'd be no brain in that pumpkin head of yours."

Yavena said nothing; she only stared evenly back at him, determined not to quail under his gaze. She was not sorry for accompanying Hange—because if she hadn't, her friend might be dead.

They stared at one another for a moment… and then the Captain took a step forward and growled, "I should have you serve time for disobedience. Ten days in the jail cells to start—"

"Levi," said Hange's voice. It was no longer shaky or uncertain; now, Hange was standing tall, and there was a purpose in their stance. "You will not be punishing Yavena for anything. She pushed me out of the way of that Titan's hand—without her, I might have died. You forget that I outrank you: and my orders are to let Yavena be."

Levi whirled back towards Hange, a fire filling his entire face. Yavena too stared at her friend, her muscles so tense that she could hardly breathe. She'd never served time for disobedience before; in thirteen years of service for the Scout Regiment, she'd only been scolded _once…_

"Tch," Levi scoffed at last. Much of his anger had evaporated. "Fine. Get on this horse, Pumpkin Head. We're going back to—"

"Captain?"

Levi stopped short and looked towards Petra, who had spoken. "What is it?"

Petra's voice quivered as she said, "Did a Titan do that? But… it _can't_ be…"

"What are you talking about?"

She pointed to something in the glen with shaking hands; everyone turned to see that the tallest tree in the center had a hollowed out portion… and that there was something inside it…

The corpse of a Scout Regiment member.

Hange was the first to near the tree. They had to stand on their toes in order to look at the jacket—their voice echoed from the hollow as they declared, "This is the emblem from the thirty-fourth expedition… They've died over two years ago. Their name was, let's see… oh, _no…_ "

"Who is it?" asked Levi, a sharp blade still edging his voice.

Hange crawled out of the hollow and looked towards Yavena, their eyes sorrowful as they answered, "Elias Schmidt."

Yavena gasped, and promptly cried out in pain. She felt everyone's eyes land upon her, but Yavena did not care. She stumbled forth, weakly pushing Eld and Gunther out of her way, so she could look into the hollowed-out stump for herself.

Seeing what she was after, Hange carefully reached inside and pulled out the jacket from within. They handed it gently to Yavena, who had reached out to take it.

She peered over the jacket, and true to Hange's word, found the name _'Elias Schmidt'_ upon it. Now it wasn't just her ribs that hurt—it was her heart, too.

"Levi, what's that?"

Hange's voice brought Yavena out of her own abyss. Captain Levi held something in his hands: a small notebook with a cover of leather. It looked as though it had been pressed into the mud, but based on how his eyes were scanning the page, Yavena knew that whatever was written inside was still legible.

Upon hearing what Hange had asked, the Captain looked back up and said, "It's the fruit of Elias Schmidt's labor." He then noticed the desperation with which Yavena was looking at the notebook, and walked over to her.

Yavena reached out to take the book from him and opened it to the first page. She only read the first few words, which were, _My name is Elias Schmidt. I am part of the 34th Expedition Beyond the Walls,_ before dropping it and stumbling back against the stump of the tree, never mind how badly it hurt her torso upon colliding with the bark.

Yavena sunk down to the ground with a grimace, and although she knew her squad was all looking at her with confusion, the only person who Yavena could bear to look at was Hange Zoë.

Hange crouched down beside her. They placed a warm hand upon her shoulder, and with the most concern and supportiveness that they could muster, asked, "Was it him, Yavena?"

Yavena suddenly found herself remembering all the stories that Elias had dedicated to her more than three years ago. He had always had a way with words, choosing poetry and short story as a way to let out some of the haunting memories that he carried from recon missions.

But the works Elias had created were not of blood or fire or death. They spoke of happier things: the chance to live, the beauty of the forest, the color of the sky at dawn… and how that color had reminded him of Yavena's hair.

She had spent countless hours reading over everything he had written.

She would recognize his handwriting anywhere.

"Yes, Hange. It's him."

Stars appeared in her vision and began to grow, taking up all of her sight—from somewhere far away, Yavena could hear Eld ask, "You knew this man?"

But she was far past the point of being able to answer. There was a sweet blackness approaching; it promised rest—an escape—even if it was only for a short while. And Yavena, tired of the day's events, jumped directly into it.


	6. -A Final Farewell-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! Here's another author's note. This one is mostly just to recommend a melancholy instrumental video/song that I listened to while writing this chapter. I always listen to music when I write, so in case anyone else is the same way while reading and you want the same kind of 'vibe' that I had while writing, then here it is!
> 
> https://youtube.com/watch?v=2twPX3and_A&t=315s&ab_channel=MykolasUndzenas
> 
> For anyone wondering, it's called 'Reflections' by Toshifumi Hinata. Whoever made this put a background of rain, which I found really applicable here. Aaaanyway, that was pretty much it for me. Thanks for reading and dealing with all of my rants :) Have a good day!

* * *

When Yavena awoke, it was to the sound of rain dancing upon windowpanes. It had rained frequently in the spring and fall seasons in Shiganshina District—it was a soothing, familiar sound that made her feel as though she were at home.

But then a memory flashed across her mind: one of the Titan that had begun to squeeze the life out of her earlier that day. She launched up with a gasp.

"Oye, don't strain yourself."

Yavena groaned and laid back down, suns of all colors dancing across her eyelids. When they finally disappeared, she looked over to see Hange sitting next to her. It was then that Yavena realized she had been carefully laid in a bed.

"Hange… what happened?"

She hated how raspy her voice was. Hange must've noticed this, because they crossed the room to the writing desk and brought over a cup of water, which Yavena drank greedily.

Hange took the now empty cup and put it back upon the writing desk. With a sad smile, they said, "Levi helped me get you back here. Commander Erwin said we will be staying in the village overnight. It's near midnight."

"Is it safe here? There are… no more Titans?"

"My squad is keeping watching right now. While we were… away… the rest of the Regiment managed to take out a number of Titans that had been nearby. It should be safe enough."

Yavena exhaled slowly, wondering what her squad-mates were thinking. It had been obvious that Captain Levi was furious with her—whether it had been for going with Hange to capture a Titan or for nearly dying and forcing him to save her, she wasn't sure. And she wasn't certain she even wanted to know the answer…

There was a crash of thunder from somewhere far away; five seconds later, a flash of lightning followed.

"I… I hope you don't mind, Yavena," murmured Hange, placing a hand upon her shoulder. "But I've been looking through the journal that had been with Elias's belongings. There are some important things that he wrote in those pages."

Yavena chewed the inside of her cheek. "What did he write about?"

"All that he underwent after being separated from his squad. He wrote about the very same Titan that Captain Levi had killed today. I—I think it might've been the same one that…"

But Hange did not finish, likely because of the expression on Yavena's face.

A silence settled between the two, leaving only the sound of the rain falling upon the walls and the roof. On the far side of the room, a lone candle's flame flickered, reflecting off of the window and Hange's glasses.

Yavena's eyes fell upon the notebook atop the desk. She felt both intrigued and sick; she had long since moved on from losing Elias, but there was something so incredibly painful about being confronted with his fate. She knew that she should be grateful to at least have some sort of closure—but that simply wasn't the case.

"I told Erwin of this find today," Hange continued. "I told him that you may have a personal interest in the contents of this notebook, and that if you were willing, I would read it aloud so that we may all know what it was Elias discovered before his death."

This made Yavena close her eyes. She could see Elias's face in her mind's eye; the last person that she had dared to fall in love with.

She owed it to him, at least. She owed it to him to find out what had happened.

"All right," Yavena said. That was _all_ she said.

Luckily, Hange seemed to understand. They squeezed Yavena's shoulder lightly before responding, "Then I will go fetch the Commander. He recently inquired to your welfare, anyway. I'm sure he would be glad to see how you're doing. Would you mind if I asked Levi to come, too? He was the one who found the notebook, after all…"

Yavena opened her mouth to agree, but what escaped her lips was not the permission that Hange was asking for.

"Is he still angry with me?"

Hange chuckled and gently swept a piece of Yavena's fiery hair away from her forehead. "I don't think so. He acts up like that after something upsets him. I wouldn't worry on it too much, Yavena. He's not going to punish you with the cells for disobedience."

This was more comfort than Yavena had thought it would be. She expelled a slow, languid breath… and then said, "All right. They can come to hear what Elias wrote."

She was rewarded with Hange's smile. The Section-Commander rose from the bed and turned to leave the room, but not before asking, "Do you need anything?"

Yavena thought on this for a moment… and then shook her head.

Hange did not say anything more. Their departure was noted by the soft _click_ of the door latching behind them.

Now alone, Yavena took this time to gather her courage. Much like it had at the Scout Regiment castle so long ago, her stomach felt like worms were wriggling around inside of it. She could not pin the reason, but her best guess was that it was because she didn't want to hear of how badly Elias might have suffered, completely alone, before he had died.

No one would wish that on _anyone_ they had ever loved.

Another peal of thunder shook the windows. She glanced outside to see that the rain was beginning to come down harder. Yavena hoped that all the other soldiers were inside and warm, just as she was. Since the rookies had been left within the Wall, it was possible that everyone had beds, too…

Yavena clenched her jaw and forced herself to sit up, no matter how her midsection screamed at her not to. If the Commander and her Captain were going to be in this room while she was bedridden, she would at least have the dignity of sitting up rather than laying down.

She grabbed the pillow she'd been resting her head upon and propped it against the wall. There was another next to her—she put that one behind her back, so it might better support her.

With this task done, Yavena decided to begin a process of a final farewell to Elias. She had done this with Paul, too, but with Paul she had been lucky enough to say that final farewell soon after his death.

Yavena glanced at the notebook again. She had only laid eyes on it for a few seconds, but the words, _My name is Elias Schmidt. I am part of the 34th Expedition Beyond the Walls_ in Elias's handwriting were burned into her memory. She had always loved his handwriting; it was elegant, with connecting letters and loops that she could only barely read.

"How did you get your handwriting to look like that?" Yavena had asked one day, as she and Elias sat in the library together.

He had smiled at her and replied, "The same way you became so excellent with a blade. I practiced; over and over, every day since I was a boy."

There had always been something enchanting about Elias's smile, perhaps because it had once been so rare. When Yavena didn't know him as well, there had always been a perpetual frown upon his face. It had been a way of keeping people at bay, making sure they could never get past his mental barrier and find themselves nestled into his core.

In a way, Elias reminded her of Captain Levi.

There was a knock at the door. Yavena glanced at it. "Come in."

Inside walked Hange, followed by Commander Erwin and her Captain. Hange immediately took their seat back by Yavena's side. Levi crossed the room towards the desk and simply leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. Commander Erwin approached Yavena's bedside.

"It's good to see you awake, Lieutenant," he said. There was something in his hands—he set it down upon the table by her side. "As you were unconscious during tonight's supper, I took the liberty of bringing some soup in case you were hungry."

Yavena couldn't help but smile. She wasn't quite in the mood to eat, but the gesture was a kind one, and so she took the bowl and swallowed a few spoonfuls. "Thank you, Commander. I appreciate it."

Although the food was not normally tasty when the Scout Regiment was on missions, it seemed that in honor of a setting up an additional supply base, those in charge of the meal had added something extra. There were carrots, sprouts, and potatoes in the soup, as well as a liberal amount of seasoning. Compared to the rations they normally received, this was fanciful indeed.

After Yavena had taken a few bites, she set the bowl back down upon the table. Hange took this as their cue to grab the leather-bound book from atop the desk and say, "Are we ready, then?"

Their eyes flickered over to Yavena, who set her jaw resolutely and nodded.

"We are," said Commander Erwin.

And with that, Hange carefully opened the ratty notebook, and began to read aloud:

_My name is Elias Schmidt. I am part of the 34th Expedition Beyond the Walls, of Squad Müllner, in charge of perimeter defense._

_On our way back, we encountered some Titans. I lost everyone in my squad, and even my horse. My maneuver gear was damaged, so I had to leave it behind._

_I am running due north, having lost my horse in Titan territory. No human can outrun a Titan on foot, and I have no comrades to rely on. My chances of returning to the city are despairingly low. If I avoid contact with the Titans, however, I might be able to reach the Wall._

_I know that I must not give in to fear. I have been prepared for this scenario since the day I joined the Scout Regiment. I must be the wings of humanity, making a last stand, and that means that I will fight to the end, even if I end up dying._

_I have no weapons, but I can still fight. My words were always better written down upon paper than spoken out loud. Thus, in the faint hope that someone may one day find this notebook, I will record my experiences here, and do everything that I can. I will not give up._

_I have encountered a Titan. It's a seven—no, six-meter class. It didn't attack me right away. Is it an Abnormal?_

_This may be the end of the line. This is as far as I go._

_It just spoke. The Titan just spoke. I can't believe it… the Titan is speaking words that I can understand. "Ymir's people. Welcome."_

_There's no doubt; the Titan is showing facial expressions. It appears to be showing respect to me… I can't believe it! For the first time in humanity, I'm conversing with a Titan?_

_I asked this Titan about his nature. Instead of talking, it is moaning. I asked him for a location. He didn't respond. I ask him for a motive._

_He has me between his teeth. Now I know this is truly the end. If anyone finds this, please tell my family. Tell Warrant Officer Yavena Verman that I_

Hange suddenly stopped speaking.

A deafening stillness settled over the room. For the first time since Hange had started reading the passage, Yavena realized that her eyes had been tightly squeezed shut. She kept them closed, not wanting to know what expressions would be on her superior officers' faces when she opened them.

"Was there… was there nothing else?" she asked. Yavena felt herself trembling as she grabbed at the bedcovers surrounding her. Her knuckles quickly went white.

"No… I'm sorry, Yavena, but that was all there was."

She finally opened her eyes. Commander Erwin was sitting in the chair by the desk, looking immensely troubled. His hands were clasped together, his chin resting upon them, and his blue eyes were leagues away.

Captain Levi was, unsurprisingly, harder to read. His arms were still crossed, he was still leaning against the wall, his face was downcast. It seemed like he was glaring at the floor in a disturbed sort of way.

"Commander…"

Everyone looked towards Hange, who was still looking at the dirtied book they held in their hands: the last words and request of Elias Schmidt. Feeling their gazes, they turned their attention to Erwin.

"Erwin," they said. "This notebook makes one thing perfectly clear. We do not know anything about the Titans. And we owe it to soldiers like Elias Schmidt, who give their lives, something to die for. We owe it to them to find answers, and to fight back until the very end, just as they have done. We need to know more about the Titans. And I truly believe that the best—and perhaps _only_ —way to do that… is to capture one alive."

Commander Erwin locked eyes with Hange. He did not bother to conceal what he was feeling in that moment—Yavena could see a realization in his eyes. There was something new there… some newfound resolution that she had never seen the leader of the Scouts display.

"Hange," he said softly. "Your proposal is accepted."

Another barrage of thunder rattled the windows. Yavena inhaled sharply at its suddenness and glanced towards the window. Lightning struck, closer to the village than the last two bouts, and the light bounced off of Hange's face.

"Thank you, Commander," they said. Their voice was not triumphant like they may have expected it to be when previously daydreaming of Erwin agreeing to her ideas. They had said this sadly, and with some sort of respect towards the book they still held in their hands.

"Hange, may I…"

Yavena trailed off, but she had not needed to finish her sentence. Hange handed off the notebook to her.

She flipped open to the last few pages. Spots of blood bedecked the places in between the lines—Yavena swallowed hard upon seeing them. She read the last paragraph: _He has me between his teeth. Now I know this is truly the end. If anyone finds this, please tell my family. Tell Warrant Officer Yavena Verman that I_

"That you what, Elias?" she whispered, more for herself than for anything else. "What did you want to tell me?"

Of course, Yavena was not met with an answer.

Upon looking at how scrawled and disjointed Elias's handwriting was, she felt tears spike her eyes. She could only imagine how afraid he had been in those very final moments—he had been alone, with the realization that he knew nothing about the Titan save that it was going to eat him. And yet, his writing also suggested that he had been thinking of _her._ He had wanted to tell her something: maybe that he loved her, or that he was sorry.

"His family lives in Krolva District," Yavena heard herself say. She blinked away the tears within her eyes and looked up at Commander Erwin, who had been sparing her a sympathetic look. "I would like to go to his household, to return his jacket and other belongings."

Commander Erwin nodded. "Granted, Lieutenant. Hange, would you go with her?"

"Of course," Hange said immediately. They reached back and gently put one hand upon the notebook.

Yavena knew what this meant. She looked over Elias's handwriting one last time before closing the journal and handing it back to Hange. Although part of her wished that she could've held onto it, just a little while longer, the other half of her knew that it was better for it to be gone.

Her throat felt unbearably tight.

"I think it's time that we all gained some rest," said Commander Erwin next. He rose from the chair and walked over to Yavena before adding, "Recuperate well, Lieutenant. We'll check up on you in the morning before we set out."

Yavena swallowed and, despite the tears still lingering in her eyes, managed to nod.

The Commander returned the gesture before saying, "Levi. Hange," and exiting the room, closing the door with a soft _click_ behind him.

Footsteps sounded across the room; Yavena looked over to see that Levi was drawing near. There was something in his hand—he placed it upon the blankets that covered her and said, "Some of the soldiers found those hardened candies in the storeroom, the ones flavored with cinnamon. I always hated them."

He did not wait for a response before following Commander Erwin in leaving.

Yavena's eyes lingered on the door, which the Captain had closed on his way out. She did not know what to make of his parting words… she could only hope that they meant Hange was right: that he was no longer angry with her.

When she looked down at what he had placed next to her, she couldn't help but smile a little. It was one of the candies that she and Hange used to steal from the kitchens and hoard under their mattresses, back when they had been in the Cadet Corps together.

"Cinnamon Sticks," Hange chuckled. "How'd that bastard know that you liked them?"

They shared a weak laugh together; Hange reached out and placed the back of their hand upon Yavena's forehead, never mind the fact that Yavena was injured, not sick. "I never got to thank you for what you did for me today."

"Hange—"

"No, please. Let me finish. When Levi brought you up here this evening, I realized something. He'd been right about one thing; I have no right to lead you into danger. I was foolish and reckless today—I almost got you _killed._ If Levi was any less skilled than he is, you'd be dead, Yavena."

Hange had been looking away from her for that entire time, but when they finally glanced back at Yavena, she was startled to see tears in _t_ _heir_ eyes.

"Promise me you won't risk your life for me again," Hange finished. "That's not fair… for either of us."

The lump in Yavena's throat grew in size, but somehow, miraculously, she managed to swallow it. "Hange, everything I do, I do of my own volition. No one forces me to do anything. No one drags me anywhere. If I do something to help or protect you… that's my own choice."

Hange sniffed and removed their glasses so they could wipe their eyes. They did not say anything more; they simply reached out and wrapped Yavena in a careful embrace.

Yavena rested her head on Hange's shoulder, feeling slightly better. There had always been something comforting about having her best friend so nearby, even after fifteen years of military work and training. Theirs was a friendship that Yavena wouldn't trade for anything.

"Get some sleep," Hange said at last. They cleared their throat and smiled. "I'll help bandage you up in the morning so the horseback riding isn't absolute shit."

At the mention of horseback riding, Yavena groaned. "Oh, fuck, don't remind me…"

She was met with another light laugh, and then Hange left the room so they might both get a decent amount of sleep before their travels in the morning.

* * *

Petra, Olou, Gunther, and Eld were all very kind to Yavena the next day. They had told her that Captain Levi informed them of the journal and its contents so they wouldn't pester her for information on who Elias Schmidt was, and what had been written inside the notebook. Thus, the conversations during the Regiment's journey had been relatively normal, although Eld in particular seemed concerned over Yavena's injuries, and constantly inquired after her state of well-being.

Yavena was grateful for all of this: her companions' honesty, their concern, and Captain Levi's foresight. She made sure they knew of her feelings too—all four of them had smiled, and it was Petra who said, "Of course, Yavena. You're our squad member… and our friend."

While Yavena didn't thank Captain Levi outright for his attempts to dissuade any triggering questions from the squad, she knew that he had seen her gratitude in the way she nodded at him, upon catching his eye.

The emotional portion of the journey had been easygoing, but the physical aspect of it had certainly _not_ been. Before they had set off for Wall Rose, Hange had confirmed that Yavena's ribs were broken and—unbeknownst to Yavena—had also asked Levi to allow her to double-ride with someone of the squad.

So it was that Yavena traveled with Gunther; even with his support, however, she was having a hard time staying balanced upon the horse. Her muscles were incredibly sore, and it was difficult to breathe. More than once, she had to conceal her face from the harsh winds so she wouldn't accidentally breathe too deeply and aggravate her torso.

Once the Scout Regiment had returned to the castle, Levi ordered Yavena to bedrest for ten days, and added that she was exempt from training for the following four weeks. She had attempted to protest, but Levi wouldn't hear of it, saying, "Don't be an idiot. If you try training like _this,_ you'll end up doing something stupid and breaking your body even further."

And so Yavena followed his orders; petulantly, perhaps, but it was done. After her ten days of bedrest were over, she made sure to continue getting up early to join her squad-mates in the courtyard, even if she would only be sitting on the sidelines. It was better than not being with them at all.

It was two and a half weeks after the Scout Regiment had returned to the castle that Hange met Yavena in her room and said, "I was hoping to go to the Schmidt's house this afternoon to return Elias's things. Would that be all right, or should I push it back another week?"

Yavena's mouth went dry, but still she said, "That's fine. Let me get ready."

It was a three hour ride by horse to where Krolva District was in relation to the Scout Regiment headquarters, but despite being in less than stellar shape, Yavena was determined to make it to Elias's family. She had been thinking about this day for far too long, and his family had been thinking about it for even longer.

They deserved the closure.

As they rode on in relative silence, Yavena kept Elias's folded jacket clutched against her chest. Giving away this jacket, the symbol of one's involvement with the Scout Regiment, was going to be the final part of her farewell to him.

Hange and Yavena made it to Elias's family's neighborhood in three and a half hours, which wasn't too bad of a time, considering how many breaks they had taken so Yavena could regather her strength. They had set out at noon, and it was four o'clock when they finally located the proper house.

As the two soldiers stared at the door, Hange reached out and grabbed one of Yavena's hands hanging limply at her side. "Are you ready?"

Yavena nodded, although her entire body was tense and cold. "Let's get this done… for all of our sakes."

And so Hange raised their fist and knocked on the door. Someone inside the house called, "Just a minute!" There was some scuffling inside, the clanking of a spare pot or pan… and then the door opened to reveal a short woman with dark hair and bright eyes.

Already, Yavena could see the resemblance between her and her son.

"Mrs. Schmidt?" asked Hange. "I'm Hange Zoë, Section-Commander of the Scout Regiment. And this is Lieutenant Yavena Verman—she is well-acquainted with your son, Elias. May we come in for a moment?"

The woman nodded and held open the door. The slow expression of dread overcame her face; it was obvious that she already knew why they were here.

Even so, Mrs. Schmidt kindly directed them to their little dining area, where a young boy was sitting, looking drearily outside the window. Her hands clasped behind her back, Elias's mother said, "That's my youngest, Benjamin. If you don't mind, I'm going to run into the next room and grab my husband. Please excuse me…"

She disappeared around the corner, leaving Hange and Yavena sitting quietly.

Yavena took a quick glance at her surroundings. The house was quite clean, save for a few dirty dishes. On the wall opposite them were shelves stacked head to toe with books: some old, some new, some thick and some thin. She couldn't help wondering if Elias had read any or even all of those books, or perhaps even written in some to practice his handwriting…

Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt returned quickly. Shadows already lined their faces.

Hange reached out and placed Elias's cloak upon the table. There were a few bloodstains still upon it. "Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt, I'm very sorry that I have to do this. Your son had been missing in action for over a year; only recently were we able to recover his body and his belongings. Yavena and I came today to return these things to you and inform you of his passing, so you may finally know of what has happened."

Hange's words became muddled as Yavena sat, staring at the table. Her mind was whirling; there was some thick cloud that had settled in her heart, one that felt like it would stay there for a century. She had expected it to be difficult, to accompany Hange in telling her previous beloved's family of his death.

But actually _being_ there, in that moment… it was far worse than Yavena had imagined.

Mrs. Schmidt had collapsed into one of the other dining chairs, concealing her face with her hands. Her husband had an arm around his shoulder, and the lines upon his face deepened so that it appeared he had aged ten years in ten seconds. Throughout Hange's explanation of how good of a soldier Elias had been and how he'd contributed greatly to the Scout Regiment, however, Mr. Schmidt determinedly kept his eyes upon theirs.

Yavena grabbed at the cuff of one of the jacket sleeves. Somewhere deep in her soul, she knew it was time.

Once Hange had finished speaking, she carefully placed the jacket upon the table, neatly atop of Elias's cloak.

"Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt, I knew Elias very well," she said. There was a faint buzzing in the back of her head, but she took a slow breath and pushed herself past it. His parents were owed the fullest of her attention—the best words she could deliver. "He was a good man: kind, disciplined, and one of the smartest people I'd ever known. I cared about him very deeply. I loved him."

Mrs. Schmidt sobbed.

Yavena's throat grew tight, but once more, she pushed past it. "Elias will never be forgotten. Not by the Scout Regiment, not by his friends, and certainly not by me. He was a strong man in life, and so he will remain in our minds and hearts, because we _honor_ our comrades. We honor what they fight and die for, with every day that the rest of us draw breath."

She stopped for a moment and looked across the two people sitting plainly in front of her. They were both gazing at her with cloudy eyes, waiting for the last of her statement.

"We will continue to honor him, Mr. and Mrs. Schmidt. I can promise you that."

Yavena did not know what else to say. She simply nodded and glanced over Elias's jacket one more time—she reached out and adjusted the pin of the wings of humanity so that it lay straight, and not crooked… and then she pulled her hand back to her sides, knowing that it was done.

The Schmidts invited Hange and Yavena to stay for a quick cup of tea before they departed. All four of them were quiet as they sat around the table, slowly waiting for the steam to dissipate from each cup.

"Elias was always a good boy," Mrs. Schmidt said, despondently looking out of the window. "He could've been an author if he wanted, or a reporter. But he wanted to be a soldier. To make a difference, he said. All I can say now is… I hope he made that difference. I truly, truly do."

After another half-hour, during which the Schmidts reminisced on a few of their memories of their son, Hange and Yavena rose from the table so they could begin their return to the Scout Regiment castle. That fog was still nestled deep in Yavena's chest, but she no longer had to swallow past lumps in her throat, or wipe tears out of her eyes.

It had been hard saying goodbye to Paul, too… but she had managed it, just like she would manage this.

"Thank you, Yavena," said Mrs. Schmidt, as Yavena was walking out of their house. "For watching over him all that time."

Yavena smiled at the woman, nodded, and turned to go.

It was another four hour trip for Hange and Yavena to return all the way to their headquarters. It took even longer this time, seeing as Yavena needed additional breaks, and it was slightly harder to navigate the land in the dark.

But at last they managed it, and just in time: rain was just starting to fall again.

"Are you going to come to dinner?" asked Hange. It was nearing the end of the dining hall's designated suppertime, so if they wished to eat, they had to do so quickly.

Yavena glanced up at the clouds. They were gathered closely together, a deep melancholy grey. "No, I think I'm going to stay out here and think for a little while," she said, keeping her eyes trained on the sky. "You go ahead, though. I'll be all right."

It was clear that Hange was not convinced by this last statement… but she nodded all the same, said, "Let me know if you need anything," and turned to the dining hall on her own.

Not even ten minutes had passed before rain began to pour down from the sky. It was not a thunderstorm; just a simple rain that fell like stardrops upon the top of Yavena's head.

She took a seat on one of the benches in the courtyard, keeping her eyes upon the ground. There was no danger of being accosted by anyone, she knew—everyone would use the passages inside the castle to avoid being rained on.

Yavena took this time alone to think. She couldn't help but recall the looks that had been on the Schmidt's faces when she and Hange had told them their son was dead. They had been heartbroken, devastated… and yet, they had not been surprised at all. Not even in the slightest.

For the first time in many long years, Yavena realized just how deadly being in the Scout Regiment was. Even on a good day outside the Walls, people died. On bad days, sometimes the number of casualties exceeded fifty. Perfectly good men and women with futures ahead of them were dying, and for what?

There was no answer to what they died for. None that Yavena could see, anyway. They had been eaten by Titans, and there were still hundreds of them out there.

Parents all across the Walls were wondering what had happened to their children. Parents of people in the Scout Regiment knew that one day they would receive the same news the Schmidts did.

It wasn't fair.

Before she knew it, Yavena was sobbing. It _wasn't_ fair—it wasn't fair that humankind was being hunted by an enemy they knew virtually nothing about, it wasn't fair that good people were expected to give their lives and their hearts while gaining absolutely _nothing_ of import for it. It wasn't fair that some people had to die alone, and that those they left behind would never be the same once they were gone.

It wasn't fair; it had never been fair.

"Stop that."

Yavena removed her face from her hands and looked to the side, surprised to hear someone was approaching… and even _more_ surprised to see that it was Captain Levi walking through the rain towards her, his composed face as unreadable as ever.

She sniffed and wiped her eyes. "Is that an order?"

Levi was silent, merely watching as Yavena struggled to keep more tears from flowing onto her face. With one fluid motion, he revealed something that he'd been holding from underneath his cloak—a container of something warm, based on the steam that was rising from a hole in its lid. He handed it out to her without a word.

Yavena took it, cursing herself for her shaking hands. When she pried open the lid, there was no mistaking what it was: her favorite green tea, that she drank every evening at dinner.

She looked back to her Captain, not bothering to conceal her surprise. She'd never expected him to have noticed something so small as her favorite thing to drink… and yet here they were, and it was clear the gesture had been intentional.

Noting her stricken but grateful expression, Levi looked to the side. "There was a lot of extra."

Yavena nodded, directing her gaze back to the container to hide the tears that once again began to spill over her face.

They weren't tears of sadness this time.

Yavena sipped her drink for a little while, content to keep ignoring the rain. Levi continued to stand next to her, looking towards the ground. There was something comforting about his presence that Yavena couldn't quite place, and it prompted her to say, "Captain, I wanted to say that I'm sorry."

He raised an eyebrow. "For?"

"For what happened during our last mission," she answered, turning upon her bench and looking directly into his eyes. "Not for going with Hange in the first place, but for putting you in a position where you thought you might lose a soldier. I used to think you didn't care, but… I was wrong."

Levi scoffed. "Tch. You can prove your sincerity by avoiding situations where you might die."

She laughed somewhat, which only made him raise an eyebrow again. "We're in the Scout Regiment, Levi. We're always in situations where we might die."

He watched her carefully, noting her smile… and then something changed upon his face. His eyes were softer, and there was the barest upturn to his lips. It was the closest thing to a smile Yavena had yet seen from him; perhaps the closest thing to a smile that _anyone_ had yet seen from him.

"I suppose you're right," he said.

The next few seconds were filled only by the sound of the rain hitting the earth. Yavena watched as he turned aside and found herself wishing he wouldn't go.

"Rest well, Yavena," he said over his shoulder. "We need you back at training soon."

And then he was gone.


	7. -Special Operation 35-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again everyone, I just wanted to say that this is the last chapter I have for pre-canon material, so next time we start diving into a bit of canon. I'm really trying to add a lot of fresh material alongside the canon as well, especially when it comes to character development and relationships! :)
> 
> If any of you have any questions or comments feel free to leave me something, I'd love to hear what you think. I hope you like the chapter; have a great day!

* * *

Although the next few days were difficult for Yavena, she found strength and comfort in the company of her squad-mates. She spent nights by the fire with Petra, drank wine on the ramparts with Olou, sat in the presence of Gunther with a good book and a mug of tea, exchanged stories and went on walks with Eld.

Soon enough, Yavena had remembered what the soldiers of the Scout Regiment were dying for.

They were dying for the chance to live; so that everyone else they left behind might be that much closer to a future without fear… a future outside the Walls.

With her resolve remade, Yavena found herself asking Captain Levi when and what the next mission outside the walls would be. He declared that the next step was helping Hange Zoë in capturing a Titan, although when exactly it would be, he did not yet know.

"They're still a moron, if you ask me," Levi muttered while taking a sip of his tea. "But so are you, Pumpkin Head. You've been wasting your time and energy to help them."

Another two weeks passed; on the six month anniversary since Yavena had joined Captain Levi's Special Operations squad, she and the rest of Squad Levi were called into the Commander's quarters.

"I think it's time!" Petra exclaimed. Captain Levi had just approached them in the courtyard and given them the news before sweeping off without them. "I can only imagine how excited the Section-Commander is right now…"

Yavena grinned. She knew _exactly_ how excited Hange was going to be.

The women rose from their bench in the courtyard and began rushing through the hallways. The soldiers all parted for them immediately, for they noticed the swift and purposeful nature of their strides. Before too much longer at all, they had reached the officer's barracks. Further down the hallway, Eld and Gunther were approaching, talking with one another.

Upon meeting up together, Eld nodded at Yavena and asked, "Are you feeling well, Yavena? It's only been five weeks since you were injured."

"I'm all right, Eld, thank you," she answered. Yavena had returned to training one week prior—she had gone back one day before Levi had given her permission to do so, but the Captain didn't need to know that—and she had been fine. She needed an additional break every now and then, but otherwise Yavena felt quite back to normal.

Eld offered her a sideways smile. "You can never be too careful." He opened the door of the Commander's office and gestured her and the others inside before she could reply.

Waiting in Erwin's quarters were Hange Zoë, their second in command Moblit Berner, Captain Levi, and the Commander of the Scout Regiment. Yavena immediately saluted as she walked inside, and took one of the seats gestured towards by Erwin. The rest of her friends followed suit.

Once everyone was either seated or standing, Commander Erwin asked, "Are we all assembled, then?"

"Not yet," Levi answered, glaring somewhat at the closed door. "We're missing Air Head."

Yavena blinked, suddenly realizing that Olou was not present—

As soon as she made this discovery, the door to the Commander's office burst open. There stood Olou, panting, apparently having been informed late about the meeting or having forgotten it entirely… and based on the panicked sheen to his face, Yavena would bet money on the second.

"Sorry I'm late!" he cried, taking a breath and puffing out his chest. "Just got caught up in a few things—"

"Shut up and sit down," Levi interrupted with a scowl. "We're about to get started."

Olou nodded and took the seat next to Yavena, obviously stricken by Levi's blunt order. He still ran a hand through his curly brown hair in an attempt to play it cool, however.

Commander Erwin began once more. "Now then. As you are all no doubt aware, I have given Section-Commander Hange Zoë permission to attempt to capture a living Titan. Upon reviewing all of the designs they have created for me, I have had one or two of each kind made by the science team within Wall Sina. The traps arrived yesterday, and your goal is simple: capture a Titan by any means, using what you are provided with. I trust that I will only need to send you eight to accomplish this task. Are there any questions?"

All was silent in the office. Yavena found herself looking at the faces of each of her squad-mates: Petra was wide-eyed, Gunther and Eld were impassive, Olou seemed excited—and Captain Levi, as usual, was indecipherable.

"Will we have a supply wagon to assist us?" Hange asked. "Once we capture the Titan, we will need to transport it somehow, likely by placing it upon a large cart. It will also need to be covered with something: a large tarp, perhaps. It would also be wiser to return to headquarters at night, of course, and—"

"You will have your supply cart, as well as the prototype of each of the traps you designed, Hange," answered Erwin, realizing that to let them continue would be to subject everyone in the room to a half-hour of Hange rambling to themself. "There is no preference for what trap you use, or the condition that the Titan is brought in, save that it is alive. You leave tomorrow."

Hange nodded and faced Yavena, a glint in their eye that Yavena hadn't seen for a number of years.

"Thank you, Commander," said Hange, turning back to face Commander Erwin with a salute. "We'll return as quickly as we can."

This seemed to be a firm note of dismissal. Yavena rose from her chair, saluted once again, and followed Petra in leaving the office.

The moment that she and the others were outside, she heard Hange's voice say, "Would you lot follow me for a moment? I'll need to explain the traps that we'll have at our disposal tomorrow. It'll only take a moment!"

Yavena knew that it would take more than a moment, but she nodded and began to follow her friend down the hallway to where their room was. Seeing her resolve, Gunther, Petra, Eld, Olou, and Levi all trailed after her, although it was obvious they were less than eager to be subject to more of Hange's passionate rantings.

As expected, it took about forty-five minutes before they were done. But Hange had well-explained the purposes and designs of each contraption: one acted almost like something once known as a 'bear trap,' which would ensnare the legs of a Titan and give Squad Levi the prime opportunity to cut off its arms. Another was that giant mesh netting that Yavena had seen before: if they could trap a Titan against a predetermined wall, it would be a guaranteed victory. A third was something that even after Hange had explained it for ten minutes, Yavena _still_ didn't understand.

She was reminded just how very _smart_ Hange was as she listened to all of these different explanations. Hange had prepared for everything: a Titan of four-meters, a Titan of ten-meters or above, even an Abnormal. It seemed that every loose end, every possibility, had been taken into consideration… Theoretically, there was no way that the special operation could go wrong.

But that was wishful thinking, and Yavena knew it.

"Got it?"

Yavena salutedagain, which made Hange smile. But it seemed that save for Captain Levi, the others of Yavena's squad had long since tuned them out.

"Well, then! I think that's quite enough for the day. I'll see you all tomorrow."

Olou, Gunther, and Petra wasted no time in leaving Hange's office—Eld followed them after a courteous, "Good night, Section-Commander," and then it was only Levi, Hange, and Yavena.

The moment they saw this, Hange sighed and ran a hand through their dark hair. "They probably weren't listening for at least half of that, were they?"

"No. But if they get smacked out of the sky tomorrow by a Titan because of it, that'll be their own fault," Levi replied. He began to stride towards the door, but he stopped upon putting a hand on the doorknob. "Yavena."

She blinked and turned to face her Captain. "Eh?"

"You're recovered?"

"Aye."

Levi inspected her for a moment, perhaps attempting to detect a lie. He did not find one, and so he said, "Good," and stepped out of the door.

Figuring that it was time to start getting some sleep, Yavena smiled at Hange and also turned to leave the room—

"Oye, he's warming up to you, don't you think?"

Yavena froze. "What's that supposed to mean?" She did not turn around to see the look on Hange's face. She figured she already knew what would be waiting for her; a smug expression that Hange only wore when taunting Yavena with something.

"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all."

_Now_ she turned around, and with a scowl on her face. Although she hadn't meant for it, Hange's simple comments had caused those irritating worms to infest her stomach again, and Yavena was annoyed by the timing. She needed to be focused on the upcoming mission, not on anything else. "Hange, he's my Captain. Insinuating something about—"

"I didn't insinuate anything," Hange interrupted with a grin. They leaned back in their chair and put their feet leisurely upon the desk. "I was just observing. And I've been observing that he's warming up to you."

"Well, I—I didn't insinuate anything either," Yavena retorted, and her scowl grew deeper as she felt something rise into her face. "Anyway, what does it matter? I still get called Pumpkin Head all the time, and an idiot, and—"

But Hange's smile wasn't fading in the slightest, and Yavena stopped speaking out of sheer frustration. It wasn't just directed at Hange, either: it was also directed towards _herself,_ for letting herself get so flustered at a single comment made to her about the Captain— _her superior officer,_ in fact.

"Ah, Yavena," sighed Hange. "You've always liked mysterious men."

"No I haven't, I do not, and I will leave now. Good night, Hange."

Yavena did not wait for another remark. She thrust open the door and shut it with a bit of a slam, but she didn't care. She needed to take a hot bath to take her mind off of things, and then get a good nights' sleep.

So that was what she did. When Yavena stepped into the bath, she angrily scrubbed herself clean, knowing that in only a few hours she'd likely be covered in Titan blood again, even though it evaporated—not to mention the fierce scrubs were a good outlet for her newfound frustration.

Only once she had finished scratching the absolute daylights out of her scalp—twice—did Yavena sigh and lean back into the bath, allowing the water to cover her entire body all the way up to underneath her nose. She thought of how nice it would be to have another mission directly by Hange's side, even _if_ her friend had rather pushed her buttons just an hour ago. She figured that titanium cage could possibly be the most effective of all the traps—Yavena couldn't help smiling to herself when she thought of how excited Hange would be once they were successful.

Eld would be surprised; it was obvious he didn't think that they could pull this off. Petra and Olou would cheer—Gunther would simply smile at the accomplishment. Captain Levi would call her a moron again… though maybe he wouldn't use it as an insult, but more as a term of affection.

Yavena's eyes flickered open. She frowned again.

"I hate you, Hange," she muttered, her voice muffled from her mouth being underwater. "I hate you so much sometimes."

And with that, she climbed out of the bath, scrubbed herself dry, and threw herself into bed for sleep.

* * *

It was early in the morning that the eight members of the Thirty-Fifth Special Operation set out of the Scout Regiment castle. The sunrise was supposed to appear in an hour, which gave them all enough time to head outside of Wall Rose before the Titans would begin to move.

Yavena was positioned in between Gunther and Petra, the latter of whom was talking about how she wished people would keep track of kill assists when keeping track of Titan kills. Petra had always been more oriented towards teamwork, which in her opinion, made for a better soldier than just solo kills.

"Oye, what's _that_ supposed to mean?" Olou interjected, glaring at Petra from her other side.

"Shut it, both of you," Eld sighed. "It's too early for this."

"I didn't even say anything!" Petra cried.

"No, but you were about to. I know what you both are thinking: you're each thinking that either solo kills or teamwork kills marks the better soldier, but the fact of the matter is that neither of those things are true. You are each excellent soldiers; a statement proved by the fact that Levi invited you personally to this squad. Comparing will only anger you."

Both Petra and Olou stared at Eld with respect; seeing that he had once again mediated an argument, Yavena caught his eye and murmured, "Thank you."

Eld smiled at her and nodded.

Yavena didn't really have the patience to deal with much on that day. She hadn't gotten a very good nights' sleep thanks to that annoying feeling of worms writhing inside her belly. To top it off, she had terrible dreams when she finally _did_ fall asleep: dreams involving a captured Titan escaping from its cage and eating Hange and Levi.

Although she knew it would never happen—they were too good of soldiers to go down so easily—the dreams still made her nervous.

It was another thirty minutes later that Hange's voice declared, "Stop here! We might be able to start setting up some traps."

"Isn't it better to keep riding until we find some Titans, Hange?" asked Olou.

"No. We need to be prepared for them. Taking one of the Titans alive is not going to be as easy as killing it," Hange replied, already scouting the area. "This is a good place; there is a forest to the west, lots of open space to lay the leg-traps, and a cavern over there—" She pointed to a small hilltop, underneath which there was a cave opening. "We can set up the cage just inside there."

So it was that Squad Levi, Hange, and Moblit went to work. Gunther and Olou chose to set up the large and spiky leg-traps, taking care to place them in the open spaces. Petra, Eld, and Captain Levi began working on setting up the two mesh nettings, suspended from tree branches. Hange, Moblit, and Yavena gingerly took the cage and, with help from the supply cart, hauled it over to the cave opening and turned it so its open side would face the direction of the cave mouth.

"All right!" Hange exclaimed. They grabbed a handkerchief and began wiping the sweat from their brow, saying, "Well, now comes the fun part. One of us has to act as bait, and lure a few Titans over here and see if we get lucky!"

Petra's eyes widened. "Why only one of us?"

"Because the rest of us need to stay here, to draw the Titan's path into the traps. They rely on sense of smell to locate us—if we're all spread out, we may confuse the Titans and have them run away from where we are now, not to mention we might also forget where we set our advantage. Provided we keep close to the traps we've set up, they may step in one for us, nice and easy!"

The five members of Squad Levi exchanged quick looks; obviously nobody was eager to take up on the one job, especially after what they had uncovered during their previous exploration beyond the Walls with Elias Schmidt's fate…

Eld reached down and plucked five stalks of dandelions from the ground. "We'll draw for it. Shortest stem loses."

This seemed as good of a determination as any. Gunther chose a stem; then Olou; then Yavena; Petra; and Eld kept the last.

All five of them huddled together, determining which of the stems was the shortest. It was obvious that Petra's was the largest, so it wouldn't be her—Olou's was next. Then Gunther's… Eld's…

"Well, shit," Yavena sighed to herself. After having been grabbed by a Titan less than two months ago, she wasn't too eager to risk having it done again. But someone had to do it, and unfortunately for her, that someone was Yavena.

Eld bit the inside of his lip upon seeing the shadows under her eyes. "Don't worry about it, Yavena, I'll go."

"No, Eld. It was a fair trial. I can do it."

Yavena turned to leave, but Eld grabbed her shoulder and spun her back around. There was something urgent in his tone as he said, "You've already risked your life recently; you almost _died_ the last time we were on a mission. Let me help you. I'm willing to do so."

She smiled at him, gently grabbing his hand and squeezing it before removing it from her shoulder. A memory flashed across her mind—one of her sitting in the castle courtyard in the rain, with Captain Levi standing next to her.

"We're in the Scout Regiment, Eld," she said quietly. "We're always in situations where we might die."

Eld stared at her, obviously against her decision—but Yavena didn't wait to hear him argue any longer. She walked over to where Hange and Moblit were poring over maps, and Captain Levi was perched in one of the branches of a nearby tree.

"Have you made a decision?" asked Hange.

Yavena nodded and said, "I'm going. I'll find some Titans and lead them back here."

There was the whirring of mechanical gear, and suddenly Captain Levi was standing across from her with a raised eyebrow and clear distaste on his face. " _You?_ "

"Aye. We drew for it. I've never had much petty luck, Captain."

She did not wait for another response; there was some sort of cruel irony to the world, considering that the last time they'd spoken alone, he had told her to try and stay out of death-defying situations.

"Well, Yavena, I believe that you can do this," Hange said, reaching over and clapping a hand upon the woman's back. "There should be a few Titans somewhat nearby already, and then you just have to lead them back over to us! We'll make sure nothing happens to you, all right?"

It was only because it was Hange making this promise that Yavena smiled. "All right. Let me get my horse."

She headed back over to where the eight horses were happily grazing, and saddled her own, the one with a beautiful chestnut coat. When Yavena looked over them all, she said, "I'll shoot up a red smoke signal when I've got the Titans on my heels. Could someone light a green one so I can find my way back?"

"I'll do it," Eld volunteered immediately. There was something in his eyes that Yavena couldn't quite identify.

But there was no time to figure it out or dwell on it. She just nodded and spurred her horse onward, heading alone into the depths of Titan territory.

Despite it being the middle of the day, Yavena found herself shivering as she rode onward. Ahead of her was nothing but open plains, meaning that there was no way for her to use her omni-directional gear, even if her life depended on it. It was also incredibly weird to be traveling alone… the Scouts _never_ had groups of less than three on any kind of mission. There were plenty of reasons why: a person alone could get lost, could be forgotten about. If they were grabbed, no one else would be nearby to help. There would be no one to report that person's death; just like Elias, they'd be reported as missing in action.

Yavena pushed those thoughts away. Just like Elias had wrote: _I will not give into fear. I will not give up._

And yet she was heading on a path quite similar to his—

"Shut up," she growled to herself.

She wished that Captain Levi were with her. He would tell her to shut up and stop overthinking, probably call her an idiot, and tell her that she'd be fine.

"Shut up," she repeated. "Go away."

She didn't need to be thinking about anything other than the mission.

Yavena soon lost track of how long she had been riding. She worried that she'd gone too far east or west—the sun was directly above her in the sky, so it wouldn't be a good way to navigate for at least a few more hours. The plains were all so drearily similar too… there were no good landmarks to remember, or at least none that Yavena had yet seen. There had been a large puddle some ways back, but that had been around twenty minutes ago—or maybe it had been less time since then…

"Damn it."

She pulled on the reins, stopping her horse. Yavena took a look across her surroundings; there was something far off in the distance. It almost looked as though it was a giant rock—but when she squinted against the sunlight, she realized that it was a Titan.

The moment she made this realization, the Titan reared its head. Its nose was directed towards the sky: and then it turned around.

For one split second, Yavena locked eyes with it.

And then it turned around and started to bolt towards her.

"Shit," she muttered. With a swift heel to her horse's side, she began riding in the direction from whence she had come, hoping that she hadn't accidentally turned too far and was going the wrong way.

The ground began to quake, the way it did whenever a Titan drew near. Yavena kept her watch split between the plains ahead and the Titan behind; luckily, it wasn't so fast as to be gaining on her, but it did keep up, which still made her nervous. A Titan of that size—only an eight-meter or so—was normally a bit slower than one of the Regiment's horses…

Yavena sent a red smoke signal into the air.

There was nothing in response.

Her eyes widened. She tried another one—still nothing.

Now she knew she was in trouble. She had gone too far away from the others; far away enough that they couldn't see her smoke signal. There was no way for Yavena to be sure that she was heading in the right direction…

"Use your best judgment," she heard herself say. It was an unconscious comment, but one that she recognized well.

Commander Erwin and Captain Levi often said those words when giving out orders. Instead of planning out every single move of a battle, they would tell their soldiers to trust their instincts.

That was what Yavena needed to do now: trust her instincts. She had always been good at that, anyway... she took a deep breath and kept going straight.

The plains rushed past her, as quickly as her beating heart. Every now and then Yavena would look behind her—she came to the realization that her horse was beginning to tire, and the Titan was starting to gain on her.

Use your best judgment.

There was the little puddle that Yavena had seen earlier, now on her right side instead of her left. A rush of warmth flooded her body; at least she knew she was headed in the correct general direction now. Knowing she was closer to the others, she placed another red signal in her smoke launcher… and realized she only had two left.

She shot another red smoke signal into the air and held her breath.

Nothing.

But Yavena knew that she was getting closer. She was in the right direction, the others would be in range of her soon.

Use your best judgment.

There was a screech from behind her—Yavena looked over her shoulder to see that two more Titans had joined in the chase. One of them was the same size as the first; the other considerably smaller. Each of them had blue eyes, a trait that Yavena found odd, seeing as most Titans' eyes that she'd come across were black or a very dark brown. The one in the middle, the one that she'd been running from for the last number of minutes… that one had sharpened teeth rather than blunt ones.

Somewhere in the western distance, a faint line appeared over the horizon. Yavena exhaled: that was the forest, where Petra and Eld and Captain Levi had set up the two metal nets.

She pushed the last of her red smoke signals into her launcher and fired it.

Slightly south and to the west, a green signal met hers.

"Eld," she said. Then, even though she knew he'd never hear her words, she added, "For a minute there, I thought you were going to let me be lost."

Yavena spurred her horse in the direction of the smoke; after a few minutes, another green signal was fired into the air. She was getting close now, very close—

And then she was able to see the leg-traps that Olou and Gunther had put together: she directed her horse dangerously close to the traps, hoping that the Titans might step in one of them.

The largest of the Titans stepped in the trap, but all it did was clamp around its ankle. The leg-traps hadn't been made for Titans of a seven-meter class or larger, and this one certainly qualified—it ripped the trap from the ground and continued to chase Yavena.

Cursing, she drove her horse towards the trees. Standing on the branches of the trees bordering the forest were Gunther and Petra—seeing her approach, Gunther yelled, "Want us to take one down?"

"Yes, please!"

Gunther did not waste a second. He launched himself forth and embedded the cables of his gear into the shoulder of one of the larger Titans. With one quick turnaround, a chunk of the Titan's skin flew into the air—it began falling, its body already steaming.

Although she was grateful for this intervention, Yavena couldn't help but wish that the one with sharp teeth had been the one eliminated. A chill ran through her bones as she looked back at it; the Titan's eyes were trained unmistakably upon hers, a shade of piercing blue that she'd never before seen.

Yavena directed her horse through some of the trees, hoping that she would run the remaining two Titans in the direction of the awaiting mesh nets. There was the sound of mechanical whirring nearby—she looked up to see Captain Levi using his gear to keep up with her.

"Keep going," he said. His voice was entirely calm, and in truth, it helped to soothe her _own_ nerves as well. "Directly ahead are our traps."

"Aye, Captain!"

She continued spurring her horse onward. True to her Captain's word, the nets in the trees were up ahead, with Hange and Moblit lying in wait.

Yavena and her horse dashed underneath the net. From somewhere just behind, she heard Hange scream, " _NOW!_ "

The nets fell towards the ground, but neither of them hit their mark. The large Titan with sharp teeth was simply too fast—the smaller one had one of the metal weights land on its foot, which prompted it to trip and fall to the ground. But even that was not enough; the smaller Titan managed to wrestle free of its imprisonment, and upon seeing Hange and Moblit above, began to swipe at them.

There was a flash through the air, and that smaller Titan began to fall to the ground, its head completely severed, and its nape mauled. Levi appeared from behind the newfound wreckage, wiping his blades clean even as he flew through the trees. Even from so far away, Yavena could distinctly hear him sneer, "Tch. Disgusting."

"Yavena!" shouted Hange, who was desperately following after her and the Titan with sharp teeth. Their eyes were wild as they cried, "That's the last Titan! This is our last shot at this—direct it into the cage in the cave!"

"Aye!"

With one sharp pull of the reins, Yavena burst free from the forest. There were only thirty meters or so until the cave was reached. Twenty… fifteen…

She stood up upon the saddle and balanced precariously, knowing that she would have to jump and pray that she made it through the bars of the cage. If she didn't make it, she would be trapped in that cage with the Titan and eaten.

But at this point there was no other choice. This was the last of the three Titans that they could capture, for the advancement of humanity… It would be like threading a needle, and Yavena herself would be the needle.

Yavena nudged her horse to begin diving left, and then she jumped. The cables of her omni-directional gear were clasped in the dirt of the cave, and then she was barreling through the cavern opening, into the cage—

There was a horrible _CLANG,_ a deafening roar, and then a loud rumbling.

When Yavena opened the eyes she had closed, she realized she'd done it… she'd somehow managed to make it through the bars of the cage and into the opening on the other side.

The downside of the situation was that her blades and her omni-directional gear had been knocked off of her person. The holes that the bars provided had barely been big enough for her to squeeze past… And inside the cage with her weapons and her gear was the Titan, who was screaming inanely as it attempted to reach her through the bars.

The rumbling was explained when, behind the cage, rocks from atop the hillside were beginning to crumble down. They were blocking off her only exit from the cavern—

"Hange!" Yavena cried out. She attempted to run far enough around the cage and reach the exit, but it was already too late. The rocks had piled up too high for her to escape, and most of them were too heavy for her to move, not to mention that she was dangerously close to the Titan's swiping hands.

"Yavena!" she heard from just outside. There was the slightest opening between some of the boulders; one of Hange's brown eyes appeared. "Are you all right? Did you get the Titan?"

"Yes, I've got it, it's locked in the cage… how am I going to get out?"

"Don't worry, we'll dig you out. Just hold on for a few minutes!"

Yavena nodded and stepped away from the cavern's entrance, preparing to wait out the lengthy process that would be extracting her from the cavern. She hoped that one of her squad members had an extra set of gear and weapons… she felt almost naked without them.

That was when she heard a disturbing _crunch._

She looked back to the Titan in the cage only to see that it was using its teeth to start breaking through the bars. It had already dented one of them with a single bite…

Yavena's heart leapt into her throat. "Hange! The Titan's eating through the bars, it's trying to escape!"

" _WHAT?_ " someone bellowed from outside. It was Eld; she recognized his voice easily, even though it was distorted with fear. "Hurry up, all of you! Yavena, do you have your gear?"

"No, no, it got stuck in the cage—my weapons, too—"

"Hold on, Yavena, we're coming!" Hange cried. "We're going to get inside and kill it, all right? Just hold out for a little while longer—"

Yavena gasped at what her friend had said. Hange was about to jeopardize the mission, throw away the possibility of capturing the Titan, despite what they'd said, all the time they'd spent together planning this moment. She remembered what Hange had said during their last mission: they had asked her not to risk her life for them anymore. Yavena knew this was Hange's way of trying to fulfill that request, but...

"No!" Yavena shouted back. She locked eyes with Hange through the tiny opening and exclaimed, "No, we have to keep it! No matter what, Hange, remember? Capturing a Titan was worth losing our comrades for!"

"Shut up," said Levi's voice from somewhere beyond the piled rocks. There was a heavy grunt, and suddenly the little hole from which Yavena had seen Hange became larger. Standing on the other side of the cave was the Captain, who locked eyes with her even as he pulled another rock away. "Shut the fuck up, Pumpkin Head. We're getting you out of there."

There was another _crunch_ from the cage. One of the bars was cracked.

"Levi…" Her whole body was cold; she cursed herself for it, but she was trembling head to toe. At least in other situations, she had had her gear—but now it wasn't available, and she was alone in the damn cave, she was going to be eaten all alone just like Elias—

But this was what she had signed up for. This was what she had told Hange when they'd been talking about this exact scenario back in Hange's office. It felt like so long ago now:

_Yavena. Do you really think capturing a Titan would be worth losing our friends?_

_It will be hard, Hange. But yes. It would be worth losing our comrades for._

Yavena took a sharp breath and threw a clenched fist against her chest in the Scout Regiment salute. She had never stood as straight or as still as she had in her life as she did in that moment, and then she was screaming. " _I am a soldier of the Scout Regiment, who lives_ _for the protection and advancement of humankind! People like me die every day! If you have to choose between me and humanity, chose humanity! We have to make sacrifices if we're ever going to win! **I know I need to be that sacrifice—I'm willing to die for this, Hange!**_ "

_Crunch._

The bar that the Titan had been gnawing upon broke. Yavena inhaled sharply but did not move. She needed to buy the others time so they could get inside the cavern and keep the Titan in check. They needed more time…

The Titan swiped through the newly opened bar—it was just barely unable to grab her. Knowing that if it should break another bar it would have its meal, the Titan returned to biting the cage.

On the other side of the cavern opening, Hange had gone completely still. Their brown eyes were wide and locked upon Yavena, who was holding back tears.

Yavena knew what look that meant—she knew what Hange was going to do.

"It's okay, Hange," she said. Even though Yavena was absolutely terrified, for some reason, she found herself _smiling._ One of the tears in her eyes spilled over her cheeks. "It's okay…"

"Yavena—"

"Get back to work!" Levi commanded. He lunged forward and grabbed Hange's collar once again, that mania from their previous mission back in his face. "I told you never to endanger my soldiers! Yavena is under _my_ command!"

Yavena wished she could believe that they could save her in time and also keep the Titan restrained, she really did. But the hole that Captain Levi had made wasn't large enough yet, and if they didn't make any progress in the next fifteen seconds, she was going to die in that cave.

But she wouldn't die looking at that Titan. She would do so while looking at the others, knowing, at the very least, that she wasn't alone.

Yavena kept her dark eyes fixed upon her squad-mates—no, her _friends—_ outside: Eld, Petra, Gunther, Olou, Levi, Hange. She watched as they hauled away rock after rock, boulder after boulder. There was still that horrific sound of crunching behind her, but she wouldn't look at it anymore, she didn't want to know when her death was coming.

"Hold on, Yavena," Hange muttered. They were shaking as they pulled rocks away from the cavern entrance; their eyes were leagues away. "We can do this, we'll get you out of there and keep the Titan imprisoned, we can do this—"

There was another shifting of the rocks, opening a hole that might be _just_ large enough for a person to crawl through.

_CRUNCH_

The Titan bashed its head against the bars, finally breaking them. It began to crawl out of the cage, never mind the fact that it was gouging titanium points against its skin.

One more rock shifted; someone extended a hand through the rocks, and Yavena took it—but there was a feeling of hot breath directly behind her, and she knew there wasn't enough time to crawl out.

Whatever she said next would be her last words. On the other side of the cave entrance, Levi was looking back at her, a mixture of shock and uncertainty plainly upon his face.

"Captain, I—"

Then somebody was screaming, and something warm showered over her.

Yavena cringed but remained standing, one hand still in the Scout Regiment's salute, the other squeezing tightly onto Levi's. But… there was no intense pressure, no feeling of teeth with the sharpness of razor-blades cutting into her muscle. Just something warm and musky pressed against her skin.

When she looked behind her, Yavena gasped. Standing upon the Titan's shoulders was Hange, whose blades were still stuck in the nape of its neck.

"Hange…"

"Come on, Yavena," said Captain Levi's voice. His face was composed once again, and his voice still and calm.

Yavena realized that what was covering her was Titan blood. Even though her body was still shaking and her heart was still pounding against her ribs like a bell pendulum… she couldn't help but laugh to herself on the fact that she'd been drenched in Titan blood _yet again._ It was starting to become quite the normal routine.

Not wanting to keep her Captain waiting, she kept hold of his hand and clambered out of the cavern opening.

The moment that Yavena was out of the cave and saw the sun again, she fell to her knees. She took her hand from Levi's and clasped them tightly against her chest, trying to rid herself of the panic and adrenaline.

Someone draped an extra cloak around her shoulders—Petra. Olou was stepping forward with a canteen of water, holding it out. Gunther was already rummaging through the supply cart for an extra set of blades. Eld was crouched next to her, keeping a steady hand upon her shoulder.

Yavena nodded in thanks to all of them before looking over to Hange. She saw her friend standing by the mouth of the cave, their shoulders somewhat slumped.

"Why did you save me?"

The words exited her mouth without them really meaning to. She heard Petra gasp at the question, but Yavena was not paying attention to her. She only had eyes for Hange. "I told you… I was willing to die for this. For the advancement of humanity. Why did you save me?"

Hange turned away from the cave and knelt by Yavena's side. There was a soft smile on their face as she answered, "Because capturing that Titan _wasn't_ worth losing you for."

Yavena's eyes and throat stung; she rested her head upon Hange's shoulder.

"Not to mention that I think Levi would've killed me if I chose to sacrifice you to keep the Titan restrained. Isn't that right, Levi?"

Unable to help it, Yavena looked up towards her Captain.

"Tch," Levi muttered. He had been brushing off his jacket and cloak from dust and rubble… but then he spared a glance back to Yavena and Hange. "If you'd have done that, Hange, I would've thrown you in the cage too so your precious pet could've had seconds."

"There, see?" Hange said, smiling brightly as she punched Yavena's shoulder.

Yavena wasn't sure why, but… she began to giggle—and then she started to laugh, and she soon found she couldn't stop. It actually started to get a little painful, seeing as her ribs weren't perhaps one-hundred percent healed from the previous mission, but that didn't make a difference.

Things weren't helped as Hange began to laugh, either. The tears in Yavena's eyes trailed down her cheeks as she kept her head upon Hange's shoulder.

"You two are insane," said Eld, although it didn't appear as though he'd really meant it. When Yavena opened her eyes again, she saw that he was smiling.

"Maybe," replied Yavena. A devious glint appeared in her eye as she looked across the other five assembled before her. "But if that means the rest of you are normal, I'd rather be insane."

Olou chuckled and rolled his eyes with that.

"So… does that mean we go back to the castle now?" asked Moblit. He was gazing around the clearing that the Special Operations squad had prepared in; all of the traps were set off or had been broken.

Hange sighed and said, "I think so. We don't have any other ways of capturing Titans now, not to mention that it's going to be dark in a few hours. But thanks to this special operation, I can make adjustments to the traps… implement some improvements…"

Something was tossed Yavena's way; she saw that it was a large number of handkerchiefs.

Trying not to break out into a silly grin, she asked, "Are you ever going to tell me how many of those you have upon your person at one time?"

"No. But you're going to need all of them. You stink of Titans."

"Thanks, Levi, that's very kind," Yavena sighed. She grabbed the cloths from the ground and began forcefully scrubbing at her face, neck, and shoulders. The blood was beginning to disappear on its own, but even so, there was a lot of it. Olou splashed her with a little bit of water to make the process a little easier.

"We'll ride back to the castle in ten minutes," said Hange, squeezing Yavena's shoulder before rising. "Be ready by then. Leave the cage behind, but bring the rest of the traps back with us if you can."

The members of Squad Levi all saluted and began to follow the Section-Commander's orders. As Yavena rose to help her comrades, however, Levi pressed a hand against her shoulder and said, "Not you. You've done enough already."

"Captain, I can—"

Yavena was able to speak no more words than this. Captain Levi suddenly seized her by her jacket collar, pulling her face incredibly close to his. She gasped at the ferocity of the gesture, and how his silver eyes flashed with unbridled anger. "Shut the fuck up and listen. Don't you _ever_ resign yourself to death like that again. There are hundreds of Titans storming around the world, but there are only five people under my command. Don't you _dare_ die on me."

Yavena's heartbeat was pounding in her head again. Levi's eyes were narrowed, and there was a snarl on his face… but such anger had not been reflected fully in his voice.

He released her—and he did not wait for a response before turning aside to help his other squad members with their tasks.

The two leg-traps and steel-mesh nets were soon aboard the supply wagon. Yavena had cleaned herself up for the most part, although she still had to suffer Levi muttering, "You still smell like Titans, Pumpkin Head," despite her progress.

The use of her nickname seemed to be his way of letting her know that he was no longer angry. Yavena was grateful she had been able to pick up on this, but she could tell he was still the slightest bit shaken, even if he would never admit it. It was there in his posture, and in the deep breath he took before setting off for the Wall.

Luckily, the journey home was an easy one. There were no more Titans chasing after them save for one, which Captain Levi quickly dispatched. Yavena was surprised that Hange didn't try to argue on capturing it; on the contrary, her friend had prompted the Captain's actions by saying, "Levi, if you would?"

Other than that, however, Hange had been quiet. This was noticed by all seven of those who rode with them, though of course no one said anything about it.

Or at least, no one said anything about it until Yavena and Hange were stabling their horses in the Scout Regiment castle walls, and Yavena walked up to her Section-Commander to say, "I'm sorry that we weren't able to catch the Titan. I know how badly you want this…"

"Eh?" Hange looked over to Yavena. "Of course I do, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to sacrifice my best friend for it."

"But I thought we said—"

"It's a lot different to say one thing in the comfort and safety of the castle walls. It's another entirely to be standing next to a charging Titan and the closest friend you've ever had when they're bloodied, defenseless, and holding onto the hand of someone that they care about."

Yavena felt her face grow pink. She'd quite forgotten how tightly she'd clutched to Levi's hand in that moment, as though his presence was her last lifeline.

"I made the right decision," Hange said. They stepped forth and wrapped their arms around Yavena again, the way they'd been doing so much as of late. "And I'll be remembering how this feels in the future."

There were no words to say to this… so Yavena simply returned the embrace. She could not say she wasn't glad for what Hange had decided, at that split second in the cavern. Although Yavena was willing to die for the advancement and betterment of humanity, there were still mysteries that she had to solve: whether there was an ocean or a desert, if she would be alive to see the end of the Titans.

And now, thanks to Hange, she would have plenty of time left to unravel them.


	8. -Attack on Trost-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, I just wanted to let you know that this is the part of my story where I begin to delve into canon material. I'm definitely trying to mix those things in alongside a bunch of original material, a fresh POV, etc., but I thought to let you know where it's going. :)

* * *

The Scout Regiment ended up relocating to their base outside of Wall Rose for a little while. Upon receiving the report of how the traps needed some adjusting, Commander Erwin made the executive decision to approve some improvements to Hange's designs and test them outside of the Walls.

While that was certainly one reason to relocate, there was the other obvious fact that bringing a Titan inside the Walls would've been difficult at best. The Scout Regiment had always been a joke to the general public, but if they were to get wind of the Regiment's current goal to capture a living Titan, Commander Erwin acknowledged that it could lead to a possible outcry.

Although the mission to capture said Titan had failed, there was still progress made from Squad Levi's efforts. They had discovered that the titanium cage bars needed to be thicker, that the leg-traps needed to be adjusted to fit the sizes of all Titans, and that the mesh-netting needed to have additional weights attached, just in case the Titans were strong enough to remove the nets themselves.

Hange was hard at work in their office every day, making these adjustments and brainstorming additional methods of constraint for Titan subjects. Yavena would often keep them company, attempting to help where she could… but the fact of the matter was that Yavena was not anywhere near as smart as Hange was.

"Oh, that doesn't matter!" Hange exclaimed, when Yavena had brought up this issue. "I always think better out loud, so having you here to bounce ideas off of is very helpful in itself."

Training continued to go well for Yavena; it seemed that with each near-death experience she encountered, her bond with her friends grew deeper. She wondered if that was because the four of them had never quite had to deal with the possibility of losing a friend and comrade up close. Whether this was true or not she did not know, but Yavena thought it would be rude to ask.

To top off the turn of good events, Yavena found herself accidentally bumping into Captain Levi more often. Despite the way they had parted during their last mission, she enjoyed his company, even if they would not speak aloud much at all. She began finding him reading reports from Commander Erwin in the library, or sharpening his blades in the courtyard… As far as she could remember, Levi had never been one to linger around either of those places, though of course she wasn't complaining. Yavena would often sit in his near vicinity with a book or a mug of tea, and they would remain in those places for around half an hour without feeling the need for either a greeting or a farewell.

It seemed to be a mutual understanding of theirs. It was one that Yavena was glad for; one that always brightened her day. The only thing she had to keep telling herself was that she enjoyed his company because she respected him— _not_ because she viewed him as anything other than her superior officer.

But then she would think back to what Hange had said, about Yavena always liking mysterious men—and she would frown to herself as the worms returned to her stomach, wriggling in that nauseating way of theirs.

It was one month after the failed special operations mission that Hange knocked on Yavena's door, saying, "It's me, let me in!"

Even before Yavena could give her friend permission to enter, Hange sauntered in as if they owned the place. There were a number of papers in their hands, and based on the sketches that Yavena could see, she gathered they were blueprints of some of the new Titan traps.

"Commander Erwin says he's got a few of the adjusted models to show me! He's asked me to be in the armory in twenty minutes. Would you like to come?"

"Of course!" Yavena said. There was no need to think about the offer; she had spent too much time and energy into the creation of these traps to not want to see how their progress was unfolding.

So they set off through the secondary castle towards the armory. Hange was happily speculating what they were hoping to find all the way through the hallways, likely unaware of the fact that Yavena only understood half of the words that were exiting their mouth.

After a quick detour to the dining hall to grab mugs of green tea, they were there in the armory. Commander Erwin was standing ahead of them, directing a few members of the science team to place their traps in certain spaces. Quite a few were already set up; many of them looked sinister. A shudder ran down Yavena's spine as she stared at them… but upon reminding herself that they were for Titans, not people, she began to feel a little less uneasy.

"Good, you're early," said Commander Erwin as they walked inside the room. He nodded towards Hange and Yavena both and said, "I'm glad you've arrived. We're just finishing up."

True to the Commander's word, the last of the traps was set into place. Many still had tarps covering them, but once they received the go-ahead from Erwin, the science team swept all towards the ground.

Yavena's eyes widened. More traps had been prepared than she'd expected: seeing all of the spikes and points accompanying each structure made a shiver course through her body.

"So these are your new toys, Hange?"

Yavena jumped a little at the suddenness of Captain Levi's voice. He certainly noticed how he'd surprised her, but didn't say anything on the matter. His eyes were fastened upon the newly improved titanium cage; a scowl crossed his face.

"Aren't they incredible?" Hange whispered. Their eyes were exceedingly wide, and they wiped them free of overjoyed tears. "Of course I'd like to avoid using the ones that would cause pain, and to that point I think we'll start over on this right side…"

Hange began to speak of what each trap did and how it could be used, as well as how many men would be needed in order to use it. The rope-guns had been crafted, which meant the steel-mesh net had received an extra upgrade alongside their additional weights. There was also a promising prototype of a clamp that kept the Titans restrained by the neck. Nails accompanied that; Yavena could only guess that their purpose was to tack the Titans' limbs into the ground where they were captured, to make it incredibly difficult for them to move at all…

Some of the new inventions made Yavena's stomach queasy, but at last Hange seemed finished with their tour. Commander Erwin had been listening intently all the while, asking questions and offering input where necessary. Levi, much like Yavena, had been quiet the whole time, choosing to formulate his own opinions on the many contraptions laid out in front of them.

"Well, it sounds as though we'll be well and truly ready for them this time," said Commander Erwin at last. He clasped his hands behind his back and turned to the three of them standing together. "I trust that any discrepancies and issues with these devices have been dealt with appropriately, Hange. I don't want to hear of another close call like there had been last time with Lieutenant Verman."

Hange blinked, apparently just as surprised as Yavena to hear that the Commander had been informed of what had happened in the cave. "I—I don't remember telling you about that, sir."

"You didn't. Now, in three days' time, I will be sending the same eight of you to conduct Special Operation number thirty-six. Its goal remains the same as the operation before it. You now have two of each trap in your possession; in some cases, there are backups. I will once again lend you a supply wagon to maximize efficient travel and—"

The door slammed open, interrupting Commander Erwin's words. The four gathered together stared at the person who had entered: it was Section-Commander Miche, whose face was grave.

"Sir," Miche said darkly. "Trost District has been broken into by Titans."

* * *

Within twenty minutes, all of the Scout Regiment was riding on horseback to Trost District.

Everyone seemed to be exceptionally grim, likely because they had all reached the same conclusion. If the Armored and the Colossal Titan had been the ones responsible for taking down the gate leading into Trost District, then there was the distinct possibility that Wall Rose would fall as well.

More people would die. The vast majority of the land that humans once inhabited would be lost. Wall Sina would be all that remained.

And if that became the case, those two Titans needed to be destroyed immediately… otherwise, humankind might just die out within the following year.

Yavena was riding alongside Olou and Petra. Each of them were utterly silent, lost in the thoughts that spiraled through their own heads. They were hardly to be blamed for that; every single one of the Scouts seemed distant, herself included.

It was a four hour journey to where Trost District was in relation to the Scout Regiment's secondary base. As they neared the city, Captain Levi broke the silence that had festered for so long within the squad.

"Squads Klaus, Ness, and Brandt are going to be defending the main gate leading further into Wall Rose. Hange and their team will be accompanying us to the front gate of Trost to clear out any Titans that spill inside the city. It is likely that the Wall Garrison will attempt to assist, though I will stress that they are not as well-trained at fighting Titans like ourselves. Use your best judgment."

"Aye!" all five of them replied—but their response did not have the same heartened energy that it was normally said with.

Within the next twenty minutes, they had reached the gates of Trost. As to be expected, there were a number of Titans lined up outside the Wall, waiting for their opportunity to crawl inside.

But… there was something odd. They weren't passing through the gate—something was already blocking the hole: a large boulder.

Whispers began to break out amongst the soldiers of the Scout Regiment. Among them were more questions than theories: how did that giant boulder seal the gate so perfectly? Did the Wall Garrison have a new machine they hadn't told anyone about? How many Titans had actually gotten into the district?

"Tch," Levi muttered, obviously irritated with the soldiers' excessive pondering. "I couldn't care less. We kill the Titans here."

"The Wall Garrison seems to be expecting us," Yavena said, looking atop Wall Rose. There were the silhouettes of a few soldiers; she could hear them cheering at the Scout Regiment's arrival even from so far above.

Levi withdrew one of his blades and gestured to where six Titans were lined up against the Wall, almost in a perfectly straight line. "Good, then they'll have lifts prepared for us. Each of us will take out one Titan, and then head up the Wall to regroup with the Garrison. Based on what they tell us, we will split up to purge the city of Titans."

"Aye!" his five squad members said again. This time, it was with the vigor that Yavena had come to expect from them.

After all, that giant boulder had already taken care of the biggest problem. There didn't seem to be a sign of the Colossal or Armored Titans—that meant there was no ongoing threat to the district any longer. The only Titans that remained inside Trost were those that had arrived before the gate was sealed…

"Now."

Yavena leapt off of her horse, blades extended. The cables of her gear fastened directly into the back of the Titan's neck, and one flick of her wrist was enough to take care of the Titan she was charged with. The others had finished with their tasks as well, and upon seeing Levi claim one of the lifts that the Wall Garrison had lowered, followed suit.

The lift was unbearably slow; Yavena had forgotten how slow they were. There had been no need to use the lifts for a long while, and she found herself itching with impatience by the time they were brought atop the ramparts.

Commander Erwin was already deep in conversation with Commander Pyxis by the time they arrived. That meant it was likely that each Squad Leader would be giving individual orders—Yavena turned towards Levi expectantly.

The Captain was gazing out over the city, which was devastated to be certain. Rocks and boulders had smashed into many of the buildings, leaving debris littering the district. Titans could be seen far below, of all types and sizes—blood painted the pathways and some of the main streets.

"The Wall Garrison has been dealt a humongous blow," murmured Gunther, just loud enough to be heard.

Yavena knew that he was right. Just looking at Commander Pyxis's face was enough to tell her that. He had that look that Erwin wore every so often; one where he was almost lost in thought, going through every detail of countless battle plans in his head.

Upon seeing Captain Levi and the others arrive, Commander Erwin broke away from his conversation with the Wall Garrison's leader. "Good, you're here. The scene in Trost has largely been mitigated already, although Commander Pyxis says he only has few soldiers left in fighting condition while there are untold numbers of Titans remaining in the district. Get rid of them."

Yavena saluted, surprised by the report. She—and most of the Scout Regiment alongside her—had expected the situation to be a flaming disaster…

"This way." Levi jerked his head towards one of the lifts on the other side of the Wall, leading into the district. "We'll get a closer view of the city from here."

They all followed him onto the lift, and began to descend.

It was quiet on the way down, just as it had been all the way to Trost. But this was a concentrated silence, not one of dread: Yavena was scouring the streets of the district, attempting to determine where most of the Titans were concentrated. It seemed that over to the west, a large number of smaller Titans were gathered—she figured she could be most useful there.

"You five, begin clearing out the Titans in the city streets," said Levi. His gaze was pointed upon something directly beside the entrance gate—something of humongous size was steaming by the gates to the Wall. The hot air completely obstructed the view of whatever-it-was making the steam in the first place. Nearing the Wall were two Titans, both of the nine-meter class… and they were reaching down, towards humans that were still alive. "I'll take care of those two idiots."

He swept off, cutting into one of the Titans' necks before Yavena could even blink. But there were still plenty of Titans to be killed—she locked eyes with Petra and Gunther and cried, "I'm heading to the west!"

Both of them nodded and followed her call, to where Titans were aimlessly roaming in what had once been the downtown of Trost District. Now that they were considerably closer to the streets, Yavena was able to see how much carnage had been done to the city.

Shattered glass and splintered wood covered much of the streets. Everywhere Yavena looked, there was a Titan digging through the wreckage to reach a corpse for it to eat. Bodies lined the rooftops and the cobblestone walkways, some in pools of blood, some covered with the thin mucus that the Titans would regurgitate after a eating a human. A few civilians had been caught by the beasts and killed, but the vast majority of the corpses wore orange jackets with the insignia of two red roses and a shield upon their sleeves. Yavena couldn't help noticing that she didn't see a sign of the Military Police at all…

Yavena, Petra, and Gunther all reached a town square within which a half-dozen Titans were meandering. The three exchanged looks and simultaneous nods; and then they went to work.

Petra and Yavena aimed for two of the Titans that were closest to them. One of them was an easy target—it was hunched over a body, uncaring of the fact that the human it was picking at was dead.

Petra rocketed forth and sliced off its arms, leaving the honors to Yavena. She followed her comrade's pathway and drove her blades across its nape with no difficulty—but as she looked up, she realized that the other Titans were now staring at them, a newfound light to their eyes. It was obvious they preferred a fresh human to the dead ones.

Gunther appeared out of nowhere, killing another one of the Titans. It was the largest of the six, and as Yavena began maneuvering her way towards the remaining four, she caught a glimpse of one of the bodies down below.

It was a _kid._ A young man no older than sixteen years of age—it was a kid with a Cadet uniform on.

"Fuck," she whispered. There was something horrifying about seeing the insignia of the shield and two swords in this place… it meant that the Wall Garrison had truly been desperate. "They sent the Cadet Corps into the battle! Keep an eye out for any survivors!"

Petra gasped at her words. She too saw the body… something changed behind her eyes. Petra held her blades aloft and, with a furious screech, directed her weapons towards one of the Titan's eyes.

Blood burst everywhere, and the gargantuan beast began to stumble around. It collapsed upon the roof of a building face-up, in the perfect angle so that Yavena could not hit its weak point.

"We need to get it back up somehow," Yavena murmured. She bit the inside of her lip—there was another loud _THUD_ that signaled Gunther had taken care of another Titan. Now there were only three left.

Yavena figured that the blinded and bloodied Titan would have to wait. There were two tiny ones that looked only too eager to make her acquaintance; with a blazing fire of red in her heart, she spun through the air with her two blades, dodging through both sets of their hands and cutting through their necks like a sharpened windmill.

Now there was only _one_ left; the Titan that Petra had blinded. It still hadn't gotten up.

"Nice one," said Gunther, landing next to her upon the ground. "It's been a while since I've seen a clean double-kill like that."

Despite the horrid situation, Yavena couldn't help but shoot him a slight smile. "Thanks. But we've got another problem. This idiot over here isn't moving, it's just lying on the roof like that. It's almost like it knows that if it gets up, we're going to kill it…"

Petra laughed. "You almost sounded like the Captain for a second there."

Yavena blinked… and realized that she was starting to pick up some of the Captain's word choices. Just brilliant.

"Titans can smell really well," Gunther mused. Yavena was grateful for his interjection; he always knew how to stay on task. "If one of us can get close enough to it to taunt it, and make it want to chase us…"

"Yavena, you're faster than us both," said Petra. "Gunther and I can distract it if you're able to kill it quickly once it gets up."

Yavena nodded and turned back to the Titan. It was still lounging atop the roof, with a creepy smile that was too wide for its face.

"I really hate these things," Yavena heard herself sigh. Not for the first time, she was flabbergasted by the fact that Hange was so fascinated by them…

Petra laughed again and propelled herself into the air, with Gunther directly on her heels. They whizzed around its head for a bit—certainly close enough for the Titan to smell them. And yet it didn't seem like it wished to move.

"Come on, you stupid lummox!" Petra cried, stamping on its forehead during one of her drive-by's. "Don't you want to try and eat me?"

"I'd say it's too busy enjoying the afternoon sun," Yavena heard herself mutter. Then, raising her voice, she asked, "Could it be an Abnormal?"

Gunther took a break from buzzing around its head and landed upon a rooftop a safe distance away. "It's possible. It _is_ acting very strangely…"

There wasn't any time to debate the matter further. The ground began to quake again, signaling the arrival of more Titans. When Yavena turned around, she saw Eld and Olou not too far away, tackling two each—four more Titans sprinted towards Yavena, Petra, and Gunther, explaining the trembling of the streets.

"Oh, good," said Gunther, narrowing his eyes. "More friends."

Yavena leapt back into the air—and promptly yelped. One of the Titans had leapt into the air too, far higher than she could've ever expected. It attempted to bite upwards at her, but she was able to avoid its maw by a couple of meters.

"That one jumps!" she called back to the others.

"I'm on it!" Petra said. She directed herself low to the ground and extended both of her arms, a blade in each hand; she took off its ankles and feet, which made it lose its balance and begin to fall.

The way the jumping Titan had landed upon the ground made one of the others trip. It collided with a building that was already on the verge of falling over, sending a number of glass shards flying through the air. Yavena covered her face with her arms. A cut appeared just below her elbow and immediately began to sting.

Petra, however, was already prepared for a second attack. She returned from the way she had come, finishing off the Titan that she'd already incapacitated. Not one to let her kill count hit a dry spot, Yavena followed her and finished off the one that had tripped.

_Thud._ Gunther had killed the third one.

"Where did that fourth one go?" Yavena asked. She was sure that there had been four Titans running from Eld's and Gunther's direction… and it wasn't like Titans were known for being particularly stealthy, save for the Abnormal that she and Eld and Levi had run into, in the Forest of Giant Trees…

" _Yavena, behind you!_ "

Yavena had no clue where the Titan was, but she used her gear to dart to her left side—and just in time. The fourth Titan had been waiting behind another building, as though hoping to catch her off-guard.

Shrapnel once again flew through the air: glass, wooden splinters, broken pieces of bricks. The sunlight reflected off of the glass shards, almost disguising them as rain—Yavena managed to conceal herself behind a chimney before they could begin to cut into her skin a second time.

As soon as the barrage was over, she left the area behind the chimney, and not a moment too soon. The fourth Titan's hand clamped around the bricks, turning it into rubble with one squeeze. Some of the bricks fell to the ground, but some of them were still clasped in its hand…

"I've got this one, don't worry!"

Someone flew past her, someone with blond hair—

"Eld, _wait!_ "

The Titan hurled the rubble in Eld's direction. He gasped sharply and threw his hands up to protect his face. Yavena could only watch as one piece caught him swiftly in the chest.

She heard the _crunch_ from where she was standing. A veil of tears clouded her eyes. Eld was falling to the ground, but she would not suffer that, she would _not._

Yavena managed to catch her friend before he could hit the ground, but she landed in a way that rolled her ankle. She cried out as a sharp lance of pain trailed up her leg. Both she and Eld rolled across the dirty streets for a moment; once they slowed to a stop, Yavena grabbed her throbbing ankle with one hand in a futile attempt to lessen the pain, while she checked for Eld's pulse with the other.

He was alive.

A quake from the ground reminded Yavena that they were not safe yet. The Titan was still standing, only a number of meters away from herself and Eld.

" _Now!_ "

Petra and Gunther appeared, slicing off its legs and arms in one fell stroke. Its body began to crumple to the ground—and then Olou appeared to claim the final blow across its neck.

The Titan's body began to steam… it was dead.

Mechanical whirring filled the air. "Are you two all right?" Petra asked. She landed next to Yavena and looked at Eld with wide eyes.

Yavena tried with all her might not to grimace. "I'm worried about Eld. He took a large piece of brick directly to the chest, I think it might've broken a rib or two. I also rolled my ankle, I can't _believe_ I landed that so badly…"

"It's all right," said Olou, stepping forward and clapping a hand on Yavena's shoulder. "It seems like we cleared out the large majority of the Titans on this side of town. We'll get you back up to the top brass and finish the job on the east. Hange's team already got started, so you won't be missing much."

"Hange's all right?" Yavena asked.

Olou nodded. "The last we heard, they were fine. They were actually attempting to take a couple Titans alive—they managed to bring some of those traps here. Psychotic bitch!" This last was said with a light laugh.

Gunther stepped forward next and took Yavena's hand. With a comforting smile on his face, he said, "Come on, I'll take you back up to the Wall. Olou will bring Eld." He lifted her easily in his arms and prepared to set off—

"Wait!" Yavena cried. Gunther stopped in his tracks. "What about that one Abnormal, the one that wouldn't get up from the roof?"

Both Petra and Gunther jolted, apparently having forgotten about the Titan that liked to sunbathe. When the four of them checked on it, they saw that it was still there, either unwilling or unable to move. Steam was trailing into the air from its face, from when Petra had blinded it.

"Maybe the Section-Commander could take it into custody?" said Olou, scratching his head. "I bet they'd be _thrilled_ to have an Abnormal, the nutcase…"

"I'll keep watch on it while you two take Yavena and Eld back up to the Wall. If it moves, though, I'm going to kill it," said Petra.

"That seems fair enough," Olou replied. With a grunt, he lifted Eld's unconscious form into his arms. After staggering around for a second, he looked back to Gunther. "Shall we, then?"

"Hold tight," Gunther said to Yavena.

She nodded and wrapped one arm around his shoulder, and then they were off.

What Olou had said earlier wasn't a lie; there was a considerable number of dead Titans on the western side of Trost. Their bodies were already disintegrating, the bones scorching in the hot afternoon sun. Yavena wasn't disturbed by their corpses, however. What she _was_ disturbed by was the number of red sacs that were sprawled around the streets…

"There… there are so _many,_ " Yavena heard herself whisper. She well knew what those were: the regurgitated contents of Titan stomachs. They only appeared when Titans overindulged.

Gunther nodded solemnly, though it seemed he had nothing to say.

Before too much longer, they were atop the Wall. Commanders Erwin and Pyxis were still in heated debate. Captain Levi was with them, too.

"Captain!" Olou cried out, gaining all three of their attentions. He knelt down with a restrained groan and gingerly placed Eld upon the ramparts of the Wall. "We've taken a few injuries, but the west side of the district is clear save for an incapacitated Abnormal. Petra's keeping watch over it."

Levi took a step forward, his silver eyes fixed upon Eld. "What happened?"

"One of the last Titans was smarter than they normally are. It tore off a chimney and when Eld tried to attack it, threw the bricks at him," Yavena answered. Levi looked up at her, surprisingly stoic. "One of them caught him square in the chest… it was all I could do to catch him before he hit the ground…"

"What about you, then?" the Captain asked.

"Landed badly," Yavena grimaced. She didn't want to admit to the Captain that the reason she'd gotten injured was because of her own ineptitude. "When I was catching Eld. Rolled my ankle. I'll be fine in a week."

Captain Levi looked back to Eld. He placed his fingers on the inside of Eld's wrist, the same way that Yavena had done not twenty minutes before. Then he said, "He'll be all right. He'll have to sit out the rest of the clean-up in the city for the next few days, though."

Gunther gently placed Yavena onto the Wall next to Eld. She looked over him, feeling immeasurably guilty. Even though she couldn't have known that he would charge the Titan attacking her, she still felt as if him getting injured was her fault…

"Gunther, head back to the western side of the city. Check on Petra, see if you can kill the Abnormal. Olou, I need you to help Hange's people to the east. They were having trouble with a number of Titans near the river."

"Aye, Captain!" they both exclaimed—after a quick salute, they were off.

Yavena watched them go, wishing that she were able to be with them…

"I would like your opinion on something."

She looked up to Captain Levi with mild surprise. He was looking down to the gates on the outside of the district, where Titans had already lined up once more. It was like they sensed the fragile state of Trost District, and were hoping to exploit that weakness. The boulder blocking their access to the city wasn't budging, meaning that it was unlikely that they would break into Trost once more. Even so, Yavena still found herself wishing she could fire some cannons at them.

Realizing that Levi was waiting for a response, however, she asked, "My opinion with what, Captain?"

Levi was quiet. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, watching the horizon beyond. All Yavena could see of him was his silhouette; there was no hint to what he was thinking at all.

It wasn't much different than normal, on second thought.

"If the Scout Regiment had the opportunity to control a Titan, would you accept it despite the risks?"

Yavena blinked, wondering where the hell the question was coming from. It was not one that she had ever contemplated before. Unlike Hange, her inspiration for discovering everything she could about Titans, for unraveling their mystery, was not spawned by interest or passion.

It stemmed from hatred; from the most morbid curiosity; from an obsession with unsolved mysteries.

But Levi would not be asking her this question for curiosity's sake alone. No—something had changed. There was something different about this siege, compared to that upon Wall Maria and Shiganshina five years ago.

The giant boulder down by the gate… no ordinary man could move that. No machine, either.

"Did an Abnormal defer to us?"

Captain Levi did not turn around, or make any sign to indicate that she was right or wrong. All he did was repeat his question. "If the Scout Regiment had the opportunity to control a Titan, would you accept it despite the risks?"

"How poetic it would be, to take a Titan and use it against other Titans," mused Yavena. Something dark in her heart opened up; a thirst for vengeance, an eye for an eye. "Yes, Captain. I would take it."

"Do you believe that any one person would be able to keep it in check?"

She narrowed her eyes at this. There was very little context for this entire situation. She didn't know who the one person keeping a Titan in check would be, or whether she was correct about the guess that an Abnormal had changed to their side. If she _hadn't_ been right, then she was left completely in the dark. There were no answers on whether the Titan in question was intelligent, or if they were as mindless and brutal as the rest of the Titans outside the Walls.

But Yavena figured that Captain Levi was asking these questions for a reason. He wasn't one to play with hypotheticals.

"If anyone could keep a Titan in check, Captain, it would be you."

Now he turned around. He regarded her with the same careful look that he always wore, but Yavena had been prepared for that. She attempted to look past the façade, somewhere deeper into his person—he couldn't just ask such interesting and potentially life-changing questions without giving her any answers.

Hidden behind his usual apathetic expression was uncertainty. There was a shadow on his face that said whatever or whoever this thing was, they may not necessarily be a boon.

"You've always been good at that," Levi said. He turned away again.

"But you aren't going to tell me anything, are you?"

"No."

Yavena had expected this, but it didn't stop her from being disappointed.

For another little while she sat upon the Wall, switching between glancing at her Captain and at all the Titans assembled below. There were even more of them now… no less than two dozen.

As if they knew they were being watched, the Titans were all grinning up at Levi and Yavena, inviting them to come down for a closer look.

The memories of past fights surged through her head; Yavena thought of her mother, eaten by Titans. She thought of Paul, and of Elias. Also eaten. She thought of the fate of her hometown, Shiganshina District: destroyed.

The sights of Trost District followed, unwanted and unwarranted. She squeezed her eyes shut, but that just made the visions worse: she could clearly see all of the broken houses, the piles of dead Wall Garrison soldiers, the young man from the Cadet Corps. But worst of all, the red sacs all across the city streets, filled to the brim with undigested people.

Titans didn't even need to eat to survive. They only did it because they _liked_ it.

A roaring wave of intemperate rage coursed through Yavena's body, and yet… despite the fact that all she could feel was this one feeling, this indescribable ferocity… she was still calm.

"I wish I could blast them all to bits," Yavena muttered. She surprised herself by how dark her voice was, but it couldn't be helped. The remembrance of those red sacs upon the city streets filled her with a revulsion she hadn't felt in ages. "They're vile and disgusting, and if I hadn't been stupid enough to get injured, I'd kill them all, right here, right now."

Levi cast her a brief sideways look and reached over to grab something. It was an oak box, which he brought over towards the cannon that Yavena was sitting closest to.

He did not look at her as he opened the box. Yavena stretched a little to see what was in his hands. It was something black and spherical: a cannonball.

Without any warning, Levi loaded the cannon and fired it.

A deafening _CRACK_ split the silence of the air; a number of the soldiers from the Wall Garrison jolted or cried out in shock.

But Yavena did not care about them. She was looking down at the Titans. Three or four of them had been completely obliterated by the blast, splattering their blood and bones across the rest of their kind.

"An explosive shell?" she asked.

Levi nodded.

"Nice."

"Levi!"

For the first time since her Captain had asked her that question about the Scout Regiment controlling a Titan, Yavena remembered that they were not alone. The two Commanders had still been talking only a short ways away. It was Commander Erwin who had called Levi's name. There was a bit of a stern expression on his face.

But Levi didn't look phased at all, not that Yavena would've expected him to. Instead of addressing Erwin, he turned to face Commander Pyxis. "You don't mind if I borrow this, do you, Commander?"

Pyxis chuckled. "Not at all."

He didn't wait for any further comment. Levi began to gather as many boxes as he could at the base of the cannon by Yavena. Not willing to let him do all the hard work, she pushed a number of other boxes towards its base as well, contributing a large variety of ammunition types.

Once they had obtained an acceptable amount, Levi began blasting the cannonballs into the Titans below, round after round after round. The Titans exploded, a few at a time, decorating the ground and the Walls with varying shades of red.

Yavena couldn't help but smile throughout it all. The wave of darkness that she had felt was sated; but even after it had gone, she continued to help him utterly destroy the Titans at Trost's gate. There was something oddly soothing about such a violent activity that she couldn't quite place.

"This is the last one," she sighed, pushing the last box towards the Captain.

Just as he had for the last hour or so, Levi loaded the cannonball into its designated place. But instead of releasing it, he turned to Yavena and jerked his head in the cannon's direction.

Yavena was unable to stop the wicked smile from appearing across her face. Taking great care not to put weight on her bad ankle, she stood up and released the lever of the cannon.

_CRACK._

Her shot landed directly into the top of one of the Titan's skulls, almost squishing it directly to the ground. It had also been one of the explosive shells, so a number of other Titans in the vicinity were also bombarded with fragments of a cannonball shot at an insanely high velocity.

Yavena couldn't help but laugh. It had felt _good,_ to feel like she'd dealt a devastating blow to the Titans for once. Even though there were still hundreds beyond Wall Rose, she could appreciate an evening where she and Levi had taken out a number of dozens.

She looked back to Levi, who was looking at the gory mess below with crossed arms, and said, "Thanks for that, Captain."

His silver eyes found her face. "Keep that anger. Summon it when you fight. It'll keep you alive."

She nodded and looked back towards Trost District, feeling like he had meant to give her so much more than just advice. What he had said was meant to be insight as to how _he_ felt—it was a glance into something that kept him fighting—a layer of his mystery peeled away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, if you've gotten this far! I wanted to say thank you for all the comments and kudos and support that I've received. I always write for myself, but having others enjoy it is always nice too. :) I hope you all have a great day.
> 
> (P.S. I recently remembered that in the show, the Scouts are in middle of a reconnaissance mission beyond the Walls, but I forgot when I was writing this and decided I didn't want to rewrite it because I was already happy with it hehe. So hopefully you'll forgive me :P)


	9. -The Doctor's Son-

* * *

The following three days were spent cleaning up Trost District. The Scout Regiment coordinated attack after attack on the few Titans that remained in the city, though fortunately they were all cleared up before long. Although she was injured, it was mildly, and Yavena did not wish to be useless. Petra had managed to obtain a crutch for her, and with this extra assistance, Yavena returned to the top of the Wall to help the Garrison fire more cannonballs into the Titans below. The soldiers of the Garrison were very friendly, and oftentimes let her choose where to aim their shots.

"How often do you have to fire these cannons?" asked Yavena, after another round of thunderous explosions stopped ringing in her ears.

One of the soldiers—Nikolai—shrugged. "They don't normally get too bad. Maybe once every week or two we'll have to splatter them against the Wall like we're doing now. Otherwise we aren't very exciting."

Although Yavena doubted that the Wall Garrison was boring as Nikolai had insinuated, she figured that it also wasn't as exciting as the Scout Regiment.

After the cannons had stopped firing from atop of Wall Rose, Yavena chose to help record the names of the deceased. It was a difficult job: not physically, but emotionally. For hours she sat at a desk in one of the miraculously undamaged streets with a mask covering her face and a number of clipboards in her hands. All of those papers had dozens of names of the deceased and from which Regiment they hailed written upon them.

There were almost two hundred dead from the Wall Garrison. There were eleven names of her own comrades, the Scout Regiment. And the most bone-chilling of all, there were more than thirty names from the Cadet Corps… young students who hadn't yet even graduated or gotten to choose where they wished to serve.

The horror wasn't over for the Cadet Corps either. It seemed that they too were called upon to gather the deceased and give them a proper burial, before the bodies could fester and begin an epidemic. Yavena was always saddened to see young men and women pass by with masks on their faces and horror in their eyes as they brought her names and carried their dead comrades towards the pyres.

It was on the third evening of work that Yavena was dismissed, and with her spare time, chose to go visit Eld in one of the infirmaries within the inner city of Wall Rose. He had been transported there soon after the battle had stopped, but she had not yet been able to see him.

As Yavena traveled through the streets of Trost District, she once again felt grateful for the crutch that Petra had found for her. Without it, she would've been unbearably immobile… not to mention it was also good for batting people in the shins if they wouldn't get out of the middle of the streets.

When she stepped inside the infirmary, Yavena instantly felt sick to her stomach. She had never been very good in places like this, where everyone was sick or wounded, and the very air carried the stench of death.

But she had come to visit Eld, and she wouldn't leave until she saw him.

Luckily for Yavena, he was not too far away. She could see that those in charge of the infirmary had divided everyone up into sections, to better identify and remember who was where. Eld was one of a few dozen of the Scout Regiment soldiers that seemed to be awake.

When he saw her approach, Eld smiled and sat up—Yavena didn't miss the slight wince when he did this.

"Oye, take it easy," Yavena said, carefully lowering herself so she could sit next to him. "You took a bad blow back there, Eld. I was really worried about you."

Eld shrugged. "I've had worse."

Yavena laughed somewhat at that, figuring that he was right. "That doesn't mean you get a pass to defy death at any time."

"You're one to talk about defying death, Yavena," Eld retorted, rolling his eyes somewhat. "Two of your first three missions with the Special Operations squad involved you escaping it by a hair's breadth. You also got injured on _this_ one."

"Tch. Only because of my own stupidity."

"No, you got injured because of _me_."

She carefully looked over Eld's face. He was much easier to read than Captain Levi—Yavena could see the guilt behind a thin curtain of flippancy, as well as the concern that was so often upon his face as he looked at his squad members. "No, Eld," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "It was not because of you. But I know you're going to continue to blame yourself, which means I will say this right now: I wouldn't change a thing about what I did. You're my squad-mate—and more than that, you're a good friend. You would've done the same for me."

Eld was quiet for a moment… but then a slow smile appeared on his face again, and he clapped a hand upon Yavena's.

"How are you feeling?" she asked next.

"Better. I was lucky—my ribs aren't broken, only bruised. I should be back in the action in three more weeks, although Captain Levi's already been by to tell me that I'll be sitting out on helping with Trost…" He scowled with this, obviously less than happy to be ordered to stay on the sidelines.

Yavena hoped a teasing jibe would cheer him up. "Ah-hah, now you know how it feels, don't you?"

It worked: Eld rolled his eyes again, though this time with a laugh. "You only had to sit out on training, that's nothing."

"The sentiment remains."

Eld snickered, and Yavena soon joined him. But then there was a sudden cry of pain from somewhere close by—she jolted and looked back in the direction of the sound. Some poor soul was having a nasty bite-wound disinfected, and it looked like it stung horribly.

Having remembered that she was in an infirmary, the queasiness to her stomach returned. Eld obviously noticed this, because he said, "You look green, Yavena…"

"I've—I've never been good with doctors or medical experiments," she replied, hoping she wouldn't embarrass herself by getting sick. "There was only one doctor that I was ever comfortable with: a good man from my hometown."

"You grew up in Shiganshina, didn't you?"

Yavena nodded. The fact suddenly crossed her mind; she'd never found out what happened to Doctor Jaeger or his new wife after Wall Maria had been broken into. "I did, but… the only member of my family who lived there when the Titans invaded was my Aunt Dorothea."

Eld noted the melancholy way of speaking. "I'm sorry for your loss."

She shrugged. "She was a good woman. Hopefully wherever she is now is substantially better than the hell we're living here."

This comment was answered with silence. Yavena felt her stomach churn, but not because of the setting; because she hoped that she didn't make the conversation turn sour or make him uncomfortable.

But just as she thought this, he said, "You know, that's one way of looking at it, in case we do die. Silver linings, I suppose." He then glanced back towards Yavena and smiled again. "Thanks for visiting me. I should be out of the infirmary tomorrow evening. Hopefully I'll be seeing you soon."

"Absolutely."

The sun had set during the short time that Yavena and Eld had been speaking, which meant that soon she would have to rest so she'd be ready for more work in the morning. Taking the opportunity, she shakily rose to her feet again—Eld grabbed the crutch she had been using and handed it up to her.

"Feel better, Eld," she said with a wave; and then she left.

As soon as she stepped out of the infirmary and took a breath of fresh air, Yavena felt three times better. She could hardly imagine being one of the doctors, constantly stuck in an environment of pain and suffering, some of which could be alleviated, some of which would never be. She had no idea how Grisha Jaeger had done it, way back when…

Yavena took another breath and began to head back to where the Scout Regiment headquarters was. It was not too far of a walk, only an hour or so in her current condition. That was manageable so long as she was careful.

Something had changed during the quick visit that Yavena had been inside the infirmary for. Everywhere she looked, people were holding newspapers, gasping and huddling together to whisper conspiratorially with one another. The peoples' faces were shocked, outraged, grateful. It was such an odd mix of emotions…

That was when she heard it.

"Titans walk among us!" cried a woman. She had been holding the newspaper so tightly that her knuckles were white. "They'll eat our children!"

Suddenly, the questions that Captain Levi had asked her atop the ramparts made perfect sense.

It wasn't just a Titan that the Scout Regiment was after. It was a person with the powers of one.

"Where did you get your newspaper?" Yavena asked the woman, who looked as though she were liable to faint at any moment.

The woman pointed a shaking hand towards a market-stand that so many others were crowded around. Her eyes were wide, but she continued to read whatever-it-was that was printed in the paper.

Yavena decided to see what all the commotion was about. Captain Levi wouldn't be telling her, that was for sure, and she didn't know if Petra, Gunther, or Olou had heard of the news all the way in Scout Regiment headquarters. If she wanted to know what the hell everyone was going on about, she would have to figure it out for herself.

It took approximately five minutes for the line to disappear in front of the newsstand. Yavena had a few coins enough for the paper, though she didn't wish to start reading it until she was in an emptier street.

Two blocks further down, Yavena decided to duck into an alleyway and begin reading the paper. The first thing she saw was the glaring headline: _The Titan who Saved Trost District?_

"I knew it," she murmured. The article below was relatively short, but Yavena decided to read it anyway.

The newspaper talked about a Titan that had been helping to save Trost District—and she had been right in her recent speculation, it _was_ actually a person with the powers of a Titan, a person who was able to transform between those two forms at will. It was this person that had, in their Titan form, carried the boulder towards the gate and sealed it shut against other Titans.

Yavena scanned the paper once, twice, searching for a name… but there wasn't one.

"Tch," she scoffed, shaking her head. She didn't know what man or woman in the world could ever have a power like that, and she was _very_ curious… but then she remembered the second question that Captain Levi had asked, atop the ramparts.

_Do you believe that any one person could keep it in check?_

She bit the inside of her cheek, remembering the answer that Yavena had given him: she'd said that if anyone in the world that could keep a Titan in check, it would've been him, Captain Levi.

Her heart raced. If it was true that the Scout Regiment was contemplating acquiring this person or Titan for themselves… if Captain Levi had asked her for her opinion on whether or not _he_ was capable of keeping a Titan from hurting anyone… did she in any way influence his decision? Had she unintentionally put him in danger?

She sat still for a long while. Even from far away, Yavena could hear the townspeople. Some of them were simply scoffing, dismissing the paper as nothing but hogwash. Some seemed terrified, like the woman that Yavena had run into earlier. And some of them… were cheering. _Celebrating._

From around the street corner came a drunken laugh, and the exclamation of, "We have a Titan on our side! A savior!"

Yavena folded the paper and kept still, wondering how she herself felt about this realization. It was a surprise, to be sure… and it would certainly force a change about the way that she had felt about Titans.

If this person—or Titan—was truly on their side, then that meant there was the possibility of other human/Titans out there… But that also seemed so _unlikely!_ Yavena had been with the Scout Regiment for more than ten years, and they'd never come across anything like this outside the Wall.

Then of course, there also begged the question: how many more people were actually Titans in disguise? _Were_ there more? If there were, why didn't they too come to help when Trost District was attacked? Why didn't this person appear when Shiganshina was destroyed?

Yavena groaned. She would be getting no answers here; only more questions. With this in mind, she slowly began to raise herself from the alleyway, with the intent of returning to Scout Regiment headquarters—

"Ah, shut up, Marc, you insufferable idiot," said a voice. Based on how badly it was slurring, Yavena knew its owner was drunk, and that he was only a few meters away in the main street. "That Titan kid's going to die. It doesn't matter if the public see him as a savior."

"Aye. Throughout history, commoners have always been a rash lot."

There was laughter nearby. Yavena blinked; these people, whoever they were, knew about the Titan that had been in the newspapers. And based on what they had said… it was a _kid._

She kept incredibly still, grateful for the concealment of the night sky and the dirty alleyway. So long as this group of men didn't look too hard, they wouldn't be able to see her concealing herself with her dark-green cloak, and she would be free to keep eavesdropping.

"I fear this will trigger a revolt against the central powers," said one of the men. They began walking again—Yavena hid her face with her cloak.

One, two, three, four pairs of boots appeared: four men. The boots that those men were wearing were uniform… she glanced upwards to see that they were also clad in orange jackets—and on their sleeves was the insignia of a majestic horse.

The Military Police.

"Not if we dispose of Eren Jaeger first. I won't let those Scout Regiment deviants have him. He's too dangerous to be kept alive—we'll make sure the Premier listens to reason."

The others grumbled in assent at this. Yavena watched them go, not yet daring to move until they were well out of both earshot and eyesight. Her eyes were wide as she waited. It was clear that the Military Police wanted to kill this person—this Eren Jaeger.

"Jaeger…" she murmured to herself.

She blinked. Was it a coincidence that she had been thinking about Grisha Jaeger only an hour ago? Did he have any relation to this Eren?

The Military Police had said that Eren was a kid… a _kid._

"It's the doctor's son."

Yavena had no proof to back up her statement, but somehow, deep in her heart, she knew that she was right.

She bolted to her feet, yelping somewhat as she had forgotten all about her bad ankle. After taking a moment to gather herself and grab her crutch, Yavena set off again, at a faster and more urgent pace than before.

Commander Erwin and Captain Levi were at least considering taking Eren Jaeger under the wing of the Scout Regiment—and based on the conversation she'd just overheard, it seemed that they were more than considering it.

"Damn it," Yavena muttered to herself as she hobbled her way back to headquarters. "I can't _believe_ I injured myself during a week like this!"

It took her a good chunk of another hour, but Yavena finally made it back to Scout Regiment headquarters. She knew that the dining hall was about to be shut down for the night, but the information that she had was far too important. If she was lucky, maybe Petra or Gunther noticed her absence and would bring some food for her later—

Yavena went as fast as she could in the direction of the Commander's quarters. Her mind was whirling; she hoped that Erwin wouldn't be angered by the fact that she'd discovered all this out… after all, if he'd have wanted to keep her in the loop, he would've done so…

But there was no time to dwell on that now. She took a deep breath, steeled her nerve, and knocked on the door.

It opened quickly. Commander Erwin stood tall and proud, and he was clearly surprised to see Yavena standing in front of him. "Lieutenant, what can I—"

"The Military Police want to execute Eren Jaeger."

* * *

Within the next ten minutes, Commander Erwin and Yavena were accompanied by Hange, Section-Commander Miche, and Captain Levi. Hange seemed confused and concerned upon seeing that Yavena had been in the office, though both Miche and Levi appeared as impassive and ready for duty as always.

"Lieutenant Verman, could you please run by what you learned one more time for the others?" said Erwin.

And so she did: she told the other officers of what she had learned that evening, starting from the woman who was terrified of the Titan among humankind. She noted that they were all paying an almost uncomfortably close attention to her story, but Yavena refused to let herself quail.

When she was finished, Commander Erwin immediately spoke. "So you see that we have an issue considering what we talked about, Levi."

Captain Levi nodded, but said nothing.

"So it is true, then?" Yavena asked. "You wish for him to become a Scout."

Commander Erwin nodded. "Yes, Lieutenant, that is true. We were attempting to keep this quiet, but it seems as though our visit to Eren Jaeger in the courthouse has been noticed."

Yavena blinked at this, surprised that Commander Erwin had already visited the young man where he was being contained. And based on the scoff that exited Captain Levi's mouth, she guessed that he had gone as well.

"There's to be a courtroom hearing for him in four days," Hange said, drawing Yavena's attention. "Prior to today, we had no idea that the Military Police also desired a claim upon him…"

"I fear there's more to it than that," said the Commander. "Lieutenant Verman stated that one of the men professed a fear of revolt against the central powers."

Captain Levi crossed his arms. "Our priority should be Eren Jaeger."

"I don't disagree," Erwin mused. "However… this new information means that we shall have to prepare a sufficient argument in order to convince the jury to give him over to us."

Although Yavena had never before been in a meeting with these four officers, she was a Lieutenant: only one rank shy of being a Captain like Levi. And so she said, "The people are already split on the matter. Some are afraid of him; some see him as a savior. Whatever our argument ends up being, he should be far away from the cities of Wall Rose to placate both sides."

Hange nodded and adjusted their glasses. "I agree. Having a Titan within the Scout Regiment could be incredibly beneficial to our research, as well. Any experiments with Eren Jaeger would need to be conducted outside the Walls."

"We don't even have him yet, Hange," Miche said with a smirk. "Don't go planning anything too extravagant."

Hange just glared at him.

"We need to convince the people that we are able to control him," said the Commander. He crossed his office to the window and stood ahead of it, gazing out into the darkened sky. "But how, I am not yet sure…"

"Claim that you will put him under Captain Levi's supervision," Yavena said.

Erwin chuckled and looked over his shoulder to face her. "Did you already know that was what we were planning?"

"No," Yavena answered, hoping that it wasn't too quickly. "But… I had a suspicion. Whose squadron is it that the people know of? Who is it that even the civilians know of far inside the Walls? They have heard many stories about the Captain. They will believe that he can control this Eren Jaeger."

"Tch," Levi muttered. He looked to the ground with narrowed eyes.

Yavena turned to face him and crossed her _own_ arms. "I stand by what I said three days ago, Captain. If you were looking for anything other than my honest opinion, you should not have asked for it."

Hange began to laugh; they crossed the room and slapped a hand on Yavena's back, which made her gasp and seize the Commander's desk before she put too much pressure on her bad ankle. Seeing this, Hange murmured, "Sorry about that… but Yavena's right. Not only should we be arguing that we can control him—we need to convince the people that he's a benefit to humanity, not a detriment."

Erwin nodded pensively before turning to look at the soldiers under his command. "We will claim that Eren will be used to retake Wall Maria."

The words were spoken so strongly that for a split second in time, Yavena almost believed it was possible. But she could not see it herself yet… she did not know of Eren's abilities, or how in control of his powers he was. Retaking Wall Maria was an excellent end goal, but whether it was possible, she wasn't yet sure.

"Does Eren know of your intentions?" Yavena heard herself say.

"He does."

"Will he be aware of the fact that the Military Police want him killed?"

Commander Erwin sighed. "I cannot say."

Now Yavena frowned; she had thought of an idea to further convince the people in the courtroom of the Scout Regiment's ability to control Eren… but if Eren did not know of the danger he was in, that would make her plan risky.

"Speak your mind, Lieutenant. I wish to hear what you are thinking."

A slight flush ran into Yavena's face. She hadn't expected to be taken so seriously during this meeting… but the Commander had always been full of surprises. And so she said, "It isn't a pretty idea, but… I was thinking of a public display. If the Captain is able to _show_ the public that he is more than capable of handling Eren Jaeger—for example, by goading a transformation—"

"You would risk Eren Jaeger reverting to Titan form, and killing everyone in the courtroom?" Miche exclaimed. For the first time since he entered the Commander's office, he looked surprised.

Yavena stood tall and nodded. "That is why I asked if Eren will be made aware of his fate should we lose him. If he knows that this upcoming court hearing determines whether he lives or dies… he will know that such a display will be necessary."

"You're saying I need to beat this kid to a pulp," Levi said.

"Like I said, it isn't pretty. But if Eren keeps his composure, and everyone in that room is able to see as much…"

Hange's eyes slowly widened. Softly, they said, "That's… that's even more brilliant than it appears on the surface. Those who are terrified or disgusted by Eren will see that he shall be taken far away from the cities, and that Levi will be keeping watch over him through pain! That will sate them well enough, I'm sure… not to mention that through these actions, they will see that Levi could easily kill him if needed."

A hush fell across the room. Yavena found herself watching Commander Erwin, who had a hand to his chin and a contemplative expression deep in his eyes. She then looked towards Levi; it seemed like he was lost in his own thoughts rather than with everyone else in the office.

"It all depends," Commander Erwin said at last. He turned back to face Yavena. "Your plan could be an excellent trump card— _if_ Eren or the others do something that warrants such extreme action. If the opportunity arises, Levi, I will trust you to take the initiative."

"We'll be playing this by ear?" said Hange, apparently just as surprised as Yavena felt.

But Erwin just smiled. "We specialize in scouting missions outside of the Walls, Hange. Playing by ear is what we always do."

* * *

It was the day of the trial before Yavena knew it. She and the others who had been in Commander Erwin's office were going to be in the courtroom throughout; the task of escorting Eren Jaeger up to the courtroom itself had been bequeathed to herself, Hange, and Miche.

Yavena had to admit that she was interested to finally put a face to the name. She well-remembered Grisha Jaeger, even so many years later—it had been he who had saved her Aunt Dorothea from the epidemic of Year 834, after all. Grisha was a kindly man with dark hair, dark eyes, and oval-shaped glasses much like Hange's. She wondered if his son would have any of those features.

"Come on!" Hange exclaimed, already by the stairs leading to the basement of the courthouse where Eren was watched over. "I want to say hello!"

Yavena laughed somewhat and shook her head. "You're going to scare him, Hange. He's probably confused with everything that's happening."

But Hange wasn't hearing it. They had that faraway look on their face, the one that they wore whenever they were completely invested in their work. Yavena could only guess that her friend was already thinking about the many tests they could run on Eren, the many questions that they had.

They descended into the dark. There were so many stairs leading towards those dungeons that Miche muttered, "It's like going to the damn Underground District."

Yavena would've laughed were the situation not so serious. She couldn't help feeling apprehensive… it was her plan, her trump card, that Commander Erwin and Captain Levi were going to act on. If it wasn't enough—it would be her fault.

At last, they reached the bottom of the stairwell. A few guards of the Military Police grunted at their appearance and gestured to one of the cells on the right-hand side.

Hange immediately rushed over to it, grabbing the bars and peering inside as though its resident was a caged animal. "So you're Eren? You okay? How are things?"

Yavena joined her friend by the side of the cage and sighed, "He's been in there for seven days, Hange, how do you _think_ things are?"

"It doesn't hurt to ask."

That was when Yavena first saw Eren Jaeger. He was young, no older than sixteen years of age. Like his father, he had dark hair—but his eyes were a bright color somewhere between the shades of blue and green, almost like one of the rare turquoise gems found in the jewelry of the underground cities.

"Sorry you've had to wait so long, Eren," said Yavena. She smiled at him as Hange began to unlock the cell door. "You've got a chance to get out of here now."

Hange finished unlocking the door and thrust a pair of shackles into the cell. "But you're going to have to put these on first."

Eren seemed quite confused, but he did what Yavena and Hange requested. Hange cuffed his wrists behind his back, and with an arm around his shoulder, began to escort him back from whence they had come.

It was quiet for a moment as the three Scout Regiment members walked with their new acquaintance. Figuring that he could use some kindness before what was about to come, Yavena said, "It's nice to meet you, Eren. I grew up in Shiganshina District; the same area your father lived in."

"You knew my father?" Eren exclaimed.

"At least, that's who I assume he is. Grisha Jaeger, the doctor? He saved my Aunt's life when she fell ill."

Eren nodded, latching onto her words, for any sense of familiarity. As Yavena looked back at him, she could see just how afraid he was of all that was going on. But even as his eyes locked onto hers, some of that fear melted away to make room for resolve. "Aye, that was him."

Yavena smiled. "That's good to know. This is Han—"

"Oye, I can introduce myself!" Hange interrupted. Yavena just smirked and rolled her eyes; their fascination with Eren was already all over their face. "I'm Hange Zoë, a Section-Commander of the Scout Regiment. And this is Miche, another Section-Commander."

"Nice to meet you… where are we going?" asked Eren.

They had reached the top of the stairs. Yavena pushed open the large oak door and gestured for the others to walk through it first, into the hallways of gleaming white marble.

"You're going to be held under trial, Eren," Yavena said quietly. She glanced around the hallways to make sure that there were no members of the Military Police lurking about before adding, "It's important that you know we wish the best for you. Remember that."

"It's a bit selfish of us, but all we can do is have faith in you," said Hange, nodding somberly.

By this point they had already reached the courtroom… it was time to say farewell to Eren and take their places in the balcony to oversee the trial. Yavena opened the door for him and whispered, "Good luck."

"W-wait!" Eren cried, but the door was already slammed shut.

Their job done, Yavena sighed and looked to her companions. "You would never expect that he has the abilities of a Titan just by looking at him, would you?"

Miche said nothing, not that Yavena would've expected him to. Hange's brow was furrowed as they readjusted the glasses upon their face. All three of them began to traverse through the hallways and up the staircase that led to the balconies—somewhere up there, Petra, Gunther, Olou, and Eld were in attendance.

They entered the courtroom quietly, and just in time to hear the judge say, "I have full decision-making authority in this matter, which includes determining whether you should live or die. Any objections?"

A smile fought its way onto Yavena's face. That eliminated the need to convince all of the people in the courtroom of Eren's usefulness, at least. Now they only needed to persuade one.

"No, sir," said Eren.

Yavena looked down into the courtroom. It was packed: members of the Military Police occupied the left side of the room, while Commander Erwin and Captain Levi were standing with the Wall Garrison on the right. There were some merchants from Walls both Sina and Rose, as well as a number of ordinary civilians.

"Your astuteness is appreciated," said the judge.

Hange leaned close to Yavena and whispered, "That's the Premier!"

Yavena's eyes grew wide: this was the man that oversaw all three branches of humankind's military. She had never laid eyes on the man before, but she well-knew his name: Dhalis Zachary.

"I'll get right to the point. As expected, concealing your existence has proved impossible. Unless we publicly disclose your existence, in one fashion or another, we risk the outbreak of a new, non-Titan threat. It falls to me to decide which regiment should take charge of you: the Military Police, or the Scout Regiment. Now, let's hear what the Military Police proposes."

One of their soldiers stepped forth; Yavena narrowed her eyes. He had been one of the four men she'd overheard just a few nights ago, when he and his soldiers were talking about killing Eren.

"Yes, sir! I, Nile Dawk, offer the following proposal. We believe that, after a thorough examination of Eren's body, he should be disposed of immediately. It's true that his Titan ability helped thwart this latest incursion. However, his existence is now stirring up rebellious ideas as well. As such, after he's provided us with as much information as possible, he will be made a fallen warrior of humanity."

"There's no need! He is vermin that has defiled and infiltrated the Walls built by God's wisdom! He should be taken care of at once!"

Both Hange and Yavena groaned to see that the man who had spoken was one of the priests of the infamous cult that worshipped the Walls, declaring that they were perfect visions from God. They despised of everything 'sacrilegious' done to them, which included placing cannons on their ramparts or soldiers patrolling them.

"What are _they_ doing here?" Yavena whispered.

Hange shrugged, frowning.

"Please settle down, Pastor Nick," said Dhalis Zachary. "Next, let us hear the Scout Regiment's idea."

Commander Erwin stepped forth. "I, Erwin Smith, offer the following proposal. We intend to accept Eren as an official member of the Scout Regiment, and utilize his Titan ability to retake Wall Maria. That is all."

"Oh? That's all?"

Yavena felt her stomach churn at the inflection in the Premier's words.

But the Commander did not falter. Instead, he looked towards Dhalis Zachary and said, "Aye. With his help, we can reclaim Wall Maria. I believe it is clear what our utmost priority should be."

"I see. Tell me, from where would you launch this operation? Pyxis—the Wall has been completely sealed in Trost District, yes?"

Commander Pyxis stepped forward with a salute. "Aye. I doubt that gate will ever open again."

"We hope to depart from Karanes District, to the east. From there, we approach Shiganshina by establishing a new route," said Erwin.

"Wait a damn minute!" cried one of the noble merchants. It was clear from his manner of dress that he hailed from Wall Sina. He was sitting incredibly close to where the Military Police were set. "Shouldn't we be sealing all the gates now? The gates are the only part the Colossal Titan can break! If we can just reinforce them, we'll never be attacked again!"

"Shut up, you pompous merchant!" cried one of the civilians from Wall Rose. "With a Titan's help, we can return to Wall Maria!"

Hange grinned and clenched their fists.

"We can't put up with any more of your childish heroics!" spat the merchant.

"You have a big mouth, swine," said Captain Levi's voice. Yavena looked over to him, both impressed and concerned that he was so openly calling the man a pig. "What guarantee is there that the Titans will be kind enough to wait while we seal the gates? When you say 'we,' you mean the friends you're protecting so you can fatten yourselves up. Are you pigs blind to the people who struggle to survive with what little land is left?"

The merchant began shouting again, and the priest of the Wall Cult somehow got involved, but Yavena was hardly listening. She was fighting _so hard_ to prevent the grin from overtaking her lips—it was hard not to respect Captain Levi's blunt comments directly calling out the merchants who were the most protected, who preyed as surely upon the common-folk as the Titans did.

Hange elbowed her in the ribs and wiggled an eyebrow.

"Shut up," Yavena muttered. She didn't need to stop herself from smiling anymore.

"Order, order!" shouted Dhalis Zachary's voice. His command stopped the two men below from arguing. "I ask that you save your personal sentiments for another venue. I wish to make certain of something, Mr. Jaeger. As a soldier, can you continue to serve humanity by controlling your Titan ability?"

Eren nodded effusively. "Aye!"

"Oh? It says here in this report about the Trost battle, that just after transforming, you swung your fists at Mikasa Ackermann."

Whoever this person was, it seemed as though they meant a great deal to Eren. His eyes widened; he stared at someone on the right side of the courtroom.

"Who is Mikasa Ackermann?"

"I am, sir," said a young woman from the stands. She had short black hair and dark eyes. Based on the insignia upon her jacket, Yavena could see that she too was from the Cadet Corps…

Yavena sighed. "They're children. _Kids,_ Hange."

Hange nodded and murmured, "So were we once, Yavena."

And they were right. Yavena blinked as she looked between Mikasa Ackermann and Eren Jaeger… she and Hange had been that young once. After so much time spent with the Scout Regiment, Yavena hardly remembered what it was like to be sixteen. She was twenty-eight years of age now… almost twice as old as the two from the Cadet Corps below.

"Is it true that Jaeger, in Titan form, attacked you?" asked Dhalis Zachary.

Mikasa did not seem to want to answer, but still she did. "It's true."

Horrified gasps overtook the courtroom, from the Military Police to the merchants to the civilians. The merchant that Captain Levi had told off just a minute ago exclaimed, "I knew it! A Titan's a Titan!"

"However," Mikasa said next. "Eren also saved my life on two previous occasions while in Titan form. The first time, as I was about to fall into the hands of a Titan, he intervened and protected me. The second time, he protected Armin and I from a bombardment. I ask that you take these facts into consideration as well."

Nile Dawk of the Military Police raised a hand. "Hold on a minute! I believe that her testimony is also very driven by personal feelings. It should be noted that Mikasa Ackermann lost her parents at a young age and was taken in by the Jaeger family. What's more, our own investigation into this matter led us to a most surprising discovery. Eren Jaeger and Mikasa Ackermann, at the age of nine, stabbed and killed three adult robber-kidnappers."

More gasps overtook the room; this time, whispers accompanied them.

"Even if this was in self-defense, we cannot help but question his basic humanity. Should we really place personnel and funds in his hands, not to mention the very fate of humanity?"

Yavena glanced towards Hange, whose face was stony. There was still the Scout Regiment's trump card… but everything depended on what Eren did or said next.

"He's clearly a Titan that's sneaked in by taking the form of a child!" hissed one of the merchants.

Another pointed at Mikasa. "Her, too! I bet she's not human at all!"

"We should dissect her just to be safe!"

Eren gasped and lunged against his restraints. "Wait! I might be a monster, but she has nothing to do with this, nothing at all! It's the truth!"

"She _is_ a monster if you protect her!" cried one of the civilians.

Something flashed through Eren's eyes; a bolt of energy unlike anything Yavena had ever seen. His next word cracked through the room like thunder: " _NO!_ "

Everyone froze.

"No…" he said, much softer now. "It's not like that. But you're all using speculation to push your own selfish agendas! In fact… none of you have even _seen_ a Titan, so why are you afraid? What's the use of having power if you're not going to fight? If you're afraid of fighting for your lives, then help me! You _cowards!_ Just shut up and invest everything in _me!_ "

Eren struggled against his chains as he roared these words in anger; Yavena watched him incredibly closely. There was no sign she could see, no indication that suggested he was preparing to turn…

"Take aim!" the officer of the Military Police ordered.

One of his soldiers nodded and pointed a gun in Eren's direction—

"Now, Levi," Yavena whispered. " _Now._ "

There was no way that he could hear her words from across the courtroom, but it seemed that her Captain had spotted the perfect opportunity just as she had. Levi charged towards Eren and promptly kicked him across the face; something flew out of his mouth… a tooth.

Levi continued his assault. Blood dripped from Eren's nose and mouth, but Yavena forced herself to watch; this had been her idea, after all. Her plan. If she couldn't even bear witness to it, what kind of a person was she?

That didn't make it less difficult. Captain Levi was proficient in all sorts of combat; he knew how to hurt someone efficiently. He kicked at Eren again and again, grabbing his hair, aiming for his stomach, kneeing him directly in the face.

"My personal belief is that pain is the best tool for teaching discipline," said Levi. He placed a boot upon Eren's head and forced his face to the ground. "What you need now is to be taught a lesson, not given a talking-to. And you happen to be in a perfect kicking position."

A chill ran up Yavena's spine. Even though she knew that Levi was bluffing completely, that he wasn't actually like this… in that moment, she could see why most people were afraid of him, why they turned away from him so readily.

But this wasn't really him. He was hurting Eren to save him. Captain Levi was closed-off, but not violent. He wasn't like this to his squad—not to Yavena.

"Wait, Levi!" cried Nile Dawk from the Military Police.

Levi glanced at him, his foot still upon Eren's face. "What?"

"That's dangerous! What if he gets mad and turns into a Titan?"

The Captain scoffed and grabbed Eren by the hair, turning Eren's beaten and bloodied face towards Nile. "Don't be silly. You guys are going to dissect him, aren't you? When he was transformed, he apparently managed to kill twenty Titans before running out of strength. As an enemy, his intelligence makes him all the more dangerous. Even so, I could handle him just fine. But could you? Whoever dares to torment him had better think long and hard… can you actually kill him?"

Commander Erwin raised his hand. "Sir, I have a proposition."

"What is it?" said Dhalis Zachary.

"Eren's Titan ability includes too many uncertainties which pose an ever-present danger. As such, we will place Eren under Captain Levi's supervision and conduct a reconnaissance mission outside the Wall."

"With Eren accompanying you?"

"Yes sir. Based on the results of said mission, you can decide if Eren has control over his Titan ability, and if his existence is of benefit to humankind."

Dhalis Zachary leaned forward in his seat and clasped his hands together. His eyes found Captain Levi. "Supervising Eren Jaeger… can you do this, Levi?"

"Oh, I can most definitely kill him," Levi promised. "The real problem is that there's no middle-ground."

The Premier straightened somewhat and declared, "I've made my decision. Eren Jaeger will go to the Scout Regiment."

The courtroom exploded—many people were outraged by this answer, and were calling for Eren to be executed immediately. A good number of them were cheering, certain that the reclamation of Wall Maria was at hand. The Cadet Corps who had attended the hearing seemed relieved; Mikasa Ackermann and another soldier with blond hair seemed especially reassured.

"Come on!" said Hange, tugging at Yavena's arm. "We should go greet Eren again!"

Yavena did not hesitate to follow Hange and Miche through the stairway. Her head was pounding… they'd actually managed to pull it off. The Scout Regiment now had a Titan on their side: Eren Jaeger, the doctor's son.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening everyone! I hope you enjoyed the chapter. It followed canon a bit more than I usually wish for my chapters to do so, but I assure you that chapters like these will be few and far between. With this story in particular, I really want it to be a significant amount of more 'original' content. 
> 
> If you have any comments or questions feel free to leave them below! They mean a lot to me! Have a great one, everybody. :)


	10. -Trust-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again everyone, just wanted to say thanks for the comments and for the support that you've given me! Just a quick note with this chapter, this is where some of the locations might not be 100% accurate but hopefully you don't mind. :) I was really tempted to change a few things around for the sake of story/character relationships but I'm optimistic that it won't be glaringly obvious or anything. Anyway, hope you enjoy!

* * *

A wing of the courthouse had been prepared for the Scout Regiment's use after the trial. Yavena made her way there straightaway, though she lost track of Hange and Miche for a brief time. Even so, she wasn't bothered: they knew where Eren would be escorted and trusted them to meet there.

Miche entered the room relatively soon after Yavena. She was already preparing for the new Scout Regiment member's arrival by soaking a number of handkerchiefs in a bucket of water.

"Where did Hange go?" Yavena asked him.

He just shrugged and leaned against the wall.

They waited for a few minutes. Right when Yavena was about to go looking for Hange, however, they burst into the room, triumphantly crying, "I got it!"

"Got what?" Yavena asked.

Hange held something in a handkerchief. Yavena leaned forward to look at it and promptly lurched back, exclaiming, " _Eugh!_ Hange, why did you get his tooth?"

Her friend pouted somewhat. "This could be an important sample! There are a number of tests I could run on this single tooth alone—it's a shame it wasn't a molar…"

The door opened again, and Eren Jaeger appeared, his face bruised and bloodied but still holding strong. At Yavena's insistence, he took a seat upon the couch—she and Hange began to wipe some of the blood clear from his cheeks and nose. Yavena couldn't be certain, but… the damage that had been done wasn't nearly as bad as she had expected it to be.

"You held back, did you, Levi?" asked Yavena as her Captain entered the room.

"No, I didn't," he answered. He stood behind Yavena, observing her as she attempted to help clean Eren's face. "If I had, it's possible the Military Police may have noticed."

Hange snorted and glared at Levi. "Talk about harsh…"

"I'm sorry, Eren," Yavena said, offering him an apologetic smile. "Do not be angry with Captain Levi for what he had to do. It was my idea in the first place, in case things began to get out of hand."

"Pah, that doesn't mean Levi had to take it so far!" Hange cried. They looked back to Eren. "I bet it hurts…"

"A little," Eren admitted.

"So, how _exactly_ does it hurt?"

Eren just stared at them, dumbfounded.

There was a _click_ from the entryway—Commander Erwin had just arrived, and he was looking at Eren as he said, "I'm sorry about that, but it did get you placed in our custody. The pain was worth it. It let us play our trump card when it would be most effective. You have my admiration." He walked towards Eren and knelt in front of him, extending a hand. "I look forward to working with you, Eren."

A light ran through Eren's face as he shook Erwin's hand. "Right! Thank you, sir!"

Levi took a seat upon the couch next to Eren, who flinched at the Captain's closeness. Raising an eyebrow, Levi asked, "Tell me, then. Do you resent me?"

Yavena scoffed. "Tch. If he should resent anyone, it should be me."

"You didn't kick him in the face a dozen times," Hange muttered.

"No," Eren said. He looked between both Levi and Yavena. "I don't resent either of you. I understand it was a necessary performance."

Yavena exhaled in relief, while Levi simply replied, "Good, then."

"Still, you didn't have to go so far," Hange protested. "You knocked his tooth out! See?" With this, she held out the tooth that she had collected, still sitting in the handkerchief.

Levi grimaced. "Don't pick that up. It's disgusting."

"You sound like Yavena! This is a precious sample on its own!"

"Eren," said Levi while rolling his eyes. "Be thankful that you aren't getting dissected by people like her."

Yavena laughed somewhat at this, but promptly wiped the smile off of her face when Hange turned back to her with a scowl. "Don't compare me with them," said Hange. "I would never kill Eren. Oye, Eren, let me see inside your mouth!"

Eren blinked and looked almost hesitantly towards Yavena, who chuckled and said, "Don't worry, they're harmless. In case you haven't noticed, Hange is very passionate about Titans."

He opened his mouth, allowing Hange to peer inside. They were quiet for a moment… but then they murmured, "The tooth… it's already grown back!"

Yavena gasped and leaned forward, also glancing into Eren's mouth. Sure enough, there were no missing teeth... almost to herself, she said, "But—but teeth don't grow back! Not unless they fall out naturally, and that's only when you're a child…"

Where Yavena was dumbfounded, Hange was overjoyed. "This is incredible! This could mean that Eren has bodily regeneration just like Titans—perhaps he could even regrow his own limbs, too! There are still so many questions, I hardly know where to begin—"

"Hange," Yavena interrupted, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder. "It's probably best if we bring Eren back to headquarters for now. He should get something to eat and drink, and a good nights' sleep. I'm sure in a few days he'll answer all of your questions."

Hange looked as though they wanted to protest, but at the mention of food, Eren's stomach had audibly growled. They nodded towards Yavena and then said, "Sorry, Eren, I got carried away. I've waited for fourteen years—I can wait a few more days!"

"That's unlikely," Levi muttered under his breath, but Hange either did not hear him or proceeded to ignore him.

"I have a couple of normal Titans to run experiments on now, anyway," Hange added brightly. "So I'll have my hands busy for the next couple of weeks one way or another!"

Yavena blinked and looked at Hange accusingly. "You never told me that you managed to capture a Titan, much less two!"

Hange grinned, apparently unaware of the mild hurt that had been in Yavena's tone. "Ooh, sorry about that! There's been a lot going on the past few days, and once I heard about Eren's Titan ability, I—"

"Tch."

Both of them looked over to Levi, who had narrowed his eyes. He did not say anything, because he did not have to. It was clear what he was thinking.

"Oye, you're still mad about our previous mission, aren't you?" Hange said, raising an eyebrow in the Captain's direction. "Don't act like I don't know you're the one who told Erwin about what happened in the cave. So you'll be pleased to note that Yavena won't be in any further danger now that I've got these two."

Yavena leaned back towards Eren, swiping the last of the red streaks away from his face. Even as she watched him, it seemed as though the severity of the purples and blues to his face were fading away. "I trust that you two won't start talking about me as if I am not even here."

"I said nothing," Levi said, crossing his arms.

"Lieutenant Verman," said Commander Erwin. He took a step forward and stuck out a hand, much like he had with Eren. Feeling both confused and proud, she shook it. "If you hadn't discovered what you did, it's unlikely we would've been prepared for Eren's trial. You also fabricated a plan to provide us a substantial chance at securing his safety. This was a great service you've done for us. Are you still against the idea of leading a squad?"

Something changed in the mood of the room; some sort of tension had appeared.

But that didn't matter. She knew what to say.

"Thank you, Commander. I'm glad that I was able to help, especially considering that Eren's life was on the line. But I stand by what I told you two years ago. I prefer to follow and support, and… I'm quite happy with my current squad."

Yavena felt Hange and her Captain both watching her intently, but the tension in the room had dissipated as soon as it had arrived.

Far from being offended like Yavena had feared he would be, Erwin just smiled. "I figured you would say as much. Still—we need more leaders like yourself. Now, I believe it's time to return to headquarters. I'm sure we are all ready to leave this courthouse."

With that, they all rose to their feet and began heading towards the castle. Yavena and Hange walked with Eren in between them. Eren was quiet, likely startled by how quickly everything had happened. He seemed perfectly content to let Hange ramble on about the process they had used to capture two of the Titans that had invaded Trost District—Yavena listened too, as she wanted to be caught up on what she had missed. Although she was slightly let down by the fact that she hadn't gotten to be with Hange when the Titans were captured, the fact of the matter was that it had been done.

Yavena could not help noticing how many citizens were glancing askance at them as they walked by. The Scout Regiment had never held a place of high esteem in the peoples' hearts, but… now they had even less of a reason to trust them.

Eren seemed to notice this, too. For being so young, he seemed a fairly perceptive person. There was something about him that was different from many others even within the Scout Regiment; every time she looked at him, Yavena could see a fire in his eyes. It was a fire of great determination, of a desire to do good… it was one that she and Hange used to wear, when they too had been in training.

"You've wanted to become a member of the Scout Regiment for a while, haven't you, Eren?" Yavena heard herself say.

He jolted and turned to her, apparently surprised. "How did you know?"

She smiled. "There's something about you. A kind of fortitude in your face. It is the telltale mark of a soldier."

Eren did not reply, but he _did_ stand up a little straighter.

They reached the castle of the Scout Regiment within the next ten minutes. Miche, Levi, and Erwin parted ways with them, though only the Commander said a farewell, and then it was only Yavena, Hange, and Eren heading towards the dining hall.

A large number of soldiers peered through the hallways and around the corridors as they walked. Yavena kept her face forward in an attempt to set an example, though she knew that it wouldn't do much at all. Eren was likely to see these curious expressions one way or the other.

Dinner was fun; there was no other word for it. Eren seemed so excited by the fact that he had made it into the Scout Regiment that he was smiling almost the whole time. It was also incredibly amusing to see how quickly he was stuffing himself full of food, although Yavena felt a pang in her chest upon realizing it was likely because he hadn't eaten much at all while imprisoned.

At the new member's request, Yavena began to tell him some stories about how previous Scout Regiment missions had gone. She spoke of the mission that she had been in only seven months prior, of the Abnormal Titan that had been hiding in the Forest of Giant Trees. Eren listened intently as she told him how it could rush through the trees like how the soldiers flew through cities; his eyes grew wide as she spoke of how Captain Levi had her kill it once it was clear the battle had been won.

"Why?" asked Eren. He swallowed a mouthful of bread. "He could've done it, I'm sure…"

"It was to help me. To stop rumors from spreading after I joined his squad—rumors that might've said I didn't deserve to have been picked."

Now he grinned. "I thought you were… you're in the squad with me?"

Yavena couldn't help reflecting the same joy upon her face as she looked at Eren. His energy was effusive, and she found herself laughing as she answered, "Yes, Eren. I'm in Squad Levi with you. I was the newest member before today… it'll be nice to not be the rookie anymore."

Once they had finished eating, Hange said their farewell, as they needed to prepare their tests on the Titans for the following day. That left Yavena to show Eren where he would be staying; she grabbed up a mug of tea and handed it to him, saying, "It gets cold downstairs sometimes. You might want this."

Although it was clear that Eren was less than excited to be in the downstairs area—he brightened slightly when Yavena said there was still a window—he followed without complaint. They continued talking the whole time, largely about Eren's friends, and when they would be graduating.

"Another few weeks," Eren answered. "I think Mikasa and Armin are going to be joining the Scout Regiment. I don't know who else, though…"

"Mikasa Ackermann?"

Eren nodded. "They're my closest friends."

Yavena smiled at this, but she was also troubled. She remembered what Dhalis Zachary had said about the report on the battle within Trost District—that Eren had swung his fists against Mikasa, which suggested that there were lapses in time where he _didn't_ have full control over his Titan ability…

"Eren, answer me honestly. I do not ask this to be cruel, but to be well-informed. If and when you use your ability again, will I be able to trust you?"

He stopped walking, which prompted her to do the same. There was something in his eyes; a horrified realization. When he looked back to Yavena, he said, "I really want to say yes. But… there were moments that I don't remember, when I was a Titan."

She nodded, having expected this answer, and continued walking. Eren trotted alongside her, his fists clenched.

"Well, Eren, it's likely that we'll be leaving headquarters either tomorrow or the day after tomorrow," she said as they continued to walk through the hallway of the bottom floor. "One of our rules was to keep you out of Wall Rose until it is determined whether you have control over your ability. We'll work with you to make sure that you do."

"Aye."

By this time, they had reached the door leading into Eren's room. It was certainly an upgrade to the prison cell that he'd been resting in underneath the courthouse, but in truth, it wasn't that much better. The walls were an unfriendly grey stone, and while there was a window that let him see outside, it was not very big. Only a faint trace of moonlight entered the room.

"I'll make sure your accommodations are more homely in our other base," Yavena heard herself say. "You have my word on that."

But Eren still smiled. "Thank you, Lieutenant Verman."

"Yavena is fine," she replied, although she was rather charmed by the fact that he found it appropriate to call her by her rank, in a formal and respectful manner. "We _are_ squad-mates, after all."

Eren's smile grew ever wider, and it was happily that he said, "Good night, Yavena," and walked inside the room, allowing for her to close the door behind him.

Yavena was grateful that she did not have to lock the young man in his room. Despite his strange and particularly dangerous ability, her time with him this evening told her one thing for certain: no matter what he was, Eren was a sincere person, and he didn't deserve to be an outcast in the Regiment that had vouched for him.

She walked through the gloomy halls of the downstairs floor, glad that she no longer had to live in these rooms herself. They were reserved for the new recruits and lower-ranking officers; they often had to share a room with three or four other soldiers as well. But once one became an established officer—the rank of Sergeant Major or higher—they would receive upgrades befitting their status.

By the time that Yavena had returned to the dining hall, she found that it was nearly empty. Luckily, there was still some extra tea—she promptly grabbed a large mug of it and moved over to sit in one of the chairs by the fireplace so she could think.

A lot had happened that day. Her mind returned to the courtroom from earlier; she frowned to herself upon remembering how many people had wanted Eren killed. Even in the short time she had spent with him, Yavena could see that he was no great monster to be feared. He was no bloodthirsty Titan, ready to eat humankind's children.

He was a young man, who cared so much about the cause he wished to serve that he just might explode because of it.

Those merchants, the Military Police… they were so afraid of the unknown. No one within Wall Sina ever wished to trust in the Scout Regiment. They did not want to discover anything about the world, or fight back against the Titans. They were perfectly content to sit within the Walls for their entire lives, living a life of decadent lechery at the expense of those from the outer Walls… they knew they were in a gilded cage, and they liked it that way.

They _were_ pigs, just like Captain Levi had claimed.

And then there were the civilians that Yavena had overheard, the night the newspapers had come out. No small number of them had latched onto the faint but ever-present hope that _this_ was the turn of the tide they had been waiting for: an opportunity to reclaim their homes within Wall Maria.

The civilians in the courtroom had had the same general wish, too. She remembered how one of them had spoken against the fancy merchant from the inner city—how poignant his voice had been when he claimed that Wall Maria could be retaken. Commander Erwin truly did a fine job laying out the Scout Regiment's proposal. If they were lucky, those civilians would hold onto that promise for many months to come.

Yavena raised her mug to her lips with the intent of taking another sip… only to find out that she had already drained the cup. With a groan, she put the mug down upon the table next to her chair—

Someone put another mug next to it. The steam rising from it proved it was full.

She glanced over to see Captain Levi taking one of the seats on her other side, a mug of tea in his hands as well. He did not say hello as he sat, but he did not need to. Yavena took the new mug with a nod of thanks and looked back to the fireplace, allowing herself to be mesmerized by the flickering yellow-orange flames.

The warmth that she felt could not be attributed to the hearth in front of her. It came from within: Levi rarely approached _her_ during the days they would simply sit in each other's vicinity, save for a few occasions. This made Yavena even _more_ glad for his presence—it meant that despite the chaos that had erupted in Trost the last week, that they were able to resume that mutual understanding.

They were each quiet for a while, lost in thought or simply listening to the goings-on of the Scout Regiment headquarters. Yavena continued to wonder about Eren Jaeger… he was a new mystery, one that she hoped to unravel.

Why did he have his powers? When did he obtain them? Was he born with them? Was it possible to train him to become stronger, to fight for longer periods of time? What was the price to be paid for having such a potent ability, if there even was one?

"I would recommend that you keep your distance from Eren."

Yavena blinked, not having realized that Levi had spoken until she met his eyes. She ran through the words in her head again and frowned. "Why?"

"He is dangerous," Levi answered.

"So are you. And Petra, Gunther, Olou, Eld—"

"Don't be an idiot. You know what I'm talking about."

Yavena did, in fact, know what he was talking about. But she was not so concerned with Eren's irregularity as her Captain appeared to be. Restraining a scoff, she said, "He may be dangerous, but he is also young and in an unfamiliar place. He does not deserve to be a pariah solely because of the danger that he poses. Eren is a spirited and dedicated individual; I have so far enjoyed his company. I think he could be a good soldier… a good friend."

Levi scoffed and took a sip of his tea. His silver eyes reflected the warm colors of the hearth as he said, "You cannot grow attached him so easily. We know very little about him, save the fact that he can turn into a Titan at will. If he so wished, he could transform, grab you, and tear you in half. It is a possibility that you cannot ignore."

"He wouldn't do that."

Captain Levi raised an eyebrow. "What makes you so sure?"

"I trust him."

Yavena did not know what prompted her to say as much, but she did it anyway. And the more she thought on it, the more she realized that this was true. There were so many unknowns floating around Eren Jaeger, but underneath all of them was a good heart—one that Yavena was able to see quite clearly.

Levi, however, did not share her same sentiment. His eyebrow raised even higher as repeated, "You trust him."

"Aye."

"Do you realize how stupid that sounds?"

Her nostrils flared. Yavena sat up straighter, knowing that although Levi was looking out for her best interests—in his own twisted way—that she was tired and frustrated of being called an idiot, or a moron, or a 'Pumpkin Head.' Heatedly, she said, "No, I do not. I do not find it stupid to reach out and be kind to someone, and to trust that at the very least, that person has good intentions."

Captain Levi scoffed again and took another sip of his tea.

Another silence reigned between them both for a long moment. Yavena knew that she was scowling, but she did not care enough to wipe it from her face. But there was a question burning in her mind, and she soon found it too difficult to resist asking it: "Levi… do you trust in my ability to make decisions? Do you not think that I can take care of myself, in situations where I may be in danger? Do you not trust in me at all?"

Something flashed across the Captain's face, but it was like a bolt of lightning… there one moment, and gone the next.

He turned towards the fireplace and closed his eyes. Yavena could tell that he was thinking about something—something important that had happened to him, perhaps many years ago. Despite being only two meters away, he was so incredibly far from her in that moment. She could've reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, only for him to slip away.

"No," he finally answered. He looked back to Yavena, and she could see ghosts swimming past his silver eyes. "No, I cannot trust in the decisions that you make."

Yavena inhaled sharply. His answer stung her more than she thought it would.

She looked back at the dancing flames, furious with herself for letting her eyes begin to cloud. Her hands began to shake—she put down the mug. It seemed so silly… ludicrous, even… but Yavena had hoped that things had been… _changing_. There was no better word for it, for hoping that somehow, impossibly, she was beginning to earn the trust and respect of her Captain, a man that she had looked up to for many long years, a man that she would follow to death should he order it. She had hoped that they were more than simple acquaintances, that—dare she even think it—they were becoming friends.

But she had been wrong.

"You don't trust in anyone, do you."

The words that Yavena spoke exited her mouth without her necessarily meaning to. But she did not regret saying them, or the inflection with which they had entered the air: as a statement, and not a question.

Levi was silent.

"It must be such a lonely way to live," she said. "I feel sorry for you."

He took a sip of his tea and continued to stare into the fireplace. Something changed in the space between them: it was that cold energy, the defense mechanism, the one that Yavena had detected from him when first she joined his squad.

She figured that he was angry—after all, who had ever criticized Captain Levi?—but she did not care. Yavena had said what she had said; and she would not be apologizing, because at the core of the issue, she knew that she was _right._

"You are too important to the squad to die," Levi finally said. He did not move a single muscle as he spoke. "There is no way to be sure that Eren will not kill you. You know nothing about him—you've only met him today."

"Yes, I did. I _did_ meet him today. But I have learned more about Eren Jaeger in six hours than I have learned about _you_ in six years," Yavena said angrily. She narrowed her eyes and stared resolutely at Levi, who was carefully watching every facet of her face. "Eren is fifteen years of age, his closest friends are Mikasa Ackermann and a young man named Armin, he grew up in Shiganshina District, he prefers black tea to green, his father was a doctor, and he wants so badly to be able to control his Titan ability and be an asset to humanity. All I know about _you_ is that you have over a hundred confirmed kills on Titans, and that an indescribable hatred of Titans and a belief in humanity are what keep you fighting every damn day. And now I know that you do not trust me, despite the fact that I trust you implicitly. I trust you with my life, Levi, despite not knowing the simplest thing about you. I do not know where you grew up, what your favorite color is, or even what your last name is. Do not tell me I cannot trust someone I know nothing about, because I do it _every day_ with you."

Yavena did not wait for a response. Her heart was racing, her blood boiling. Without another look at him, without any other words, she rose from her chair and left.

* * *

It was only the next day that it was declared that Squad Levi would be heading towards an old Scout Regiment base a few leagues outside of Karanes District. They would be leaving ahead of a large number of other Scout Regiment members and high-ranking officers to both make the castle livable and to comply with their order that they must take Eren out of the Walls as soon as possible.

The weather was terrible; it was pouring rain, so thick and musty that Yavena could hardly see more than five feet in front of her. Their dark-green cloaks were not much help in blocking the deluge, so all seven members of Squad Levi found themselves sopping wet in only a few minutes.

Such weather was only exacerbating Yavena's irritable mood. She had found herself tossing and turning all of the previous night, disappointed with Captain Levi… and with herself.

All night she'd been thinking that maybe she had messed up, somewhere along the line. Maybe she'd done something that broke the Captain's trust in her, and she had not noticed. That perhaps it was her fault that he did not trust or believe in her.

But deep down, she knew it _wasn't_ her fault. She had always acted to the best of her ability, done everything she could for him and for her other squad members. At the end of the day, she was not responsible for what the Captain thought about her: his statement had been based off of his own thoughts, his own opinions, and no matter how badly she wanted to change them, she couldn't. And those thoughts, those opinions… those weren't her fault.

Eren and the others seemed to pick up on Yavena's disquiet. She could feel them casting uncertain and wary glances at each other behind her back; it wasn't hard for them to whisper to one another and hide it with the pounding rain.

Yavena could not find it in herself to care. She did feel a little bad for not being better company to Eren on his first official day in the Scouts, but… there would be plenty of time to make up for it later.

After about two hours of trotting through the inclement weather, it became obvious that the increasing piles of mud would force them to stop trotting and begin walking instead. It would take additional time to get to the old castle, but it would be much safer, not to mention that it would be easier to peer through the wilds and see if any Titans were about.

It was only ten minutes more before someone spoke.

"This shit is horrible!" Olou exclaimed. He hunched his shoulders forward to shield his face, as if that simple gesture would spare him the storm's wrath. "Why couldn't we have gone tomorrow, eh?"

"Because we needed to move Eren out of the city as quickly as possible," said Levi's voice from somewhere behind them. Yavena did not turn to look at him. "It was one of our responsibilities for taking him into our custody."

No one said anything to that. They just continued onward.

The rain showed no sign of stopping, and it was making everyone miserable. Yavena found herself longing to reach their destination so she could draw herself a bath, but they were still many leagues away, and their pace wouldn't be accelerating anytime soon.

"So… what base is it that we're going to?" asked Eren, breaking the silence.

"The old Scout Regiment headquarters," Olou answered. He sniffed and held himself tall; Yavena recognized that pose. It was the one he used whenever he tried to make himself seem more impressive or important. He hadn't emulated it in a long time… not since he had been imitating Captain Levi. "It's an old renovated castle. It looks fancy and all that sort of thing, but being so far from the Wall and the river, it wound up being totally useless for the Scouts… That was back in the early days, when everyone had high hopes. Still, to think that that oversized decoration would end up as the perfect holding place for you now…"

Eren glanced behind him and towards Captain Levi, obviously concerned by the words 'holding place.' Before Yavena could offer him words of encouragement, to say that he was a squad member and not a prisoner, Olou reached out and seized Eren's shoulder, hissing, "Don't get cocky, rookie."

"What?"

"I don't know if you're a Titan or what, but don't assume Captain Levi's going to stick with some wet-behind-the-ears brat like— _OUCH!_ "

Olou had just bitten his tongue again.

Petra, Gunther, and Eld all began to laugh. It was the first sign of life that the squad had seen in the past few hours; Eren smiled hesitantly, as if wondering whether he too was allowed to join in on the lightheartedness.

Yavena, however, was in too sour of a mood to feel any inclination to laugh. If anything, she was even _more_ put-out by what Olou had just done, attempting to intimidate Eren simply because he was the newest member to the squad. He hadn't done that to her when _she_ had joined.

"Don't be a bastard, Olou," she snipped. "Eren is our squad member."

Olou scoffed. "Tch. He's also a rookie, and should know his place."

She whirled around and glared at him with a fire so intense that he and all the others jolted. "Shut your oversized trap, Air Head. No one wants to hear it."

"Oye, Yavena…"

She blinked and looked to her right side. Eld was riding up next to her, taking great care for his horse to not splash any mud upon her person as he approached. There was a hesitant smile upon his face as he said, "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine, Eld," she answered. She attempted to smile back at him, but Yavena feared that it was more of a grimace than an actual smile. "I didn't sleep much last night. That's all."

Yavena could feel the Captain's eyes upon her back.

Eld looked her over once more. "Are you sure? You look like—"

"I said I'm _fine,_ Eld!"

The moment that the words exited her mouth, Yavena knew that they had come out harsher than intended. The shocked looks upon Petra's and Gunther's faces were enough to know that—a stone dropped deep into her stomach upon seeing the somewhat hurt look in Eld's eyes.

She reached out and placed a hand on his arm, whispering, "I—I'm sorry. I didn't mean… never mind. I ask no forgiveness." With this, she turned back towards Captain Levi, swallowed her frustration with him, and declared, "I'm going to scout on ahead."

Something crossed his face, but Yavena didn't stop to see what it was. She just spurred her horse onward.

"Yavena!"

Yavena did not acknowledge Captain Levi's summons. She just kept riding on the path to the west, never mind the mud, never mind the blinding rain.

For a few minutes, Yavena had blissful solitude. It was the closest she felt to being herself all day but… with a start, she realized that tears were beginning to fill her eyes. She knew why, of course: she'd been so focused on forcing herself not to cry the previous night that now that she was alone again, it was beginning to spill out of her, whether she wanted it to or not.

It seemed as good of a moment as any. If anyone caught up to her, she could disguise her tears with the rain.

Yavena trusted in her horse as she allowed herself to break down. Something in her chest hurt immensely; she took slow, deep breaths, but it did little to alleviate such a feeling. There was no rhyme or reason for it—everyone wanted to be trusted and respected by their Captain, but sometimes that just didn't happen.

So _why_ did it hurt so much?

She sniffed and wiped away her tears. Hange's face floated across her mind, smiling knowingly in that maddening way of theirs.

_Ah, Yavena._ _You've always liked mysterious men._

"No," Yavena said to herself. Her voice was raspy, but still she repeated, "No. Shut up— _Go Away._ "

She couldn't. Captain Levi was her superior officer. There was absolutely no way that it was possible, even _if_ it hurt so much.

The reason that she was hurting was because she was so incredibly _frustrated_. That had to be it. After all, Yavena knew nothing about him; she had said as much the previous night. There were moments he had been cruel to her, had frightened her; when he'd yelled at her, all the times he'd called her a moron, when he had grabbed at her collar and demanded her to never resign herself to death again.

But that was simply… Levi. That was part of him. Just as being angry and upset when she had almost died was, too. Just as bringing her little things to cheer her up when she lost herself was. Just as giving her advice she may or may not agree with to keep her safe was.

He was so strange. Even after so many months— _years—_ she still could not predict him. But… the important thing was that she respected him, even with all of those confusing and sometimes infuriating walls.

She respected him, was willing to give her life for him, even… and he did not trust her: _that_ was why it hurt.

There was a sudden rustle behind her and to her left side, followed by the sound of a tree cracking. She whirled in that direction to see a twelve-meter Titan approaching, walking on all fours. Its eyes were pitch black, and its teeth sharp.

Yavena took a deep breath and turned her horse to face it. The rain wasn't letting up very much, but she could see well enough. There were still a few trees around that she could make use of with her omni-directional gear—she nudged a heel in her horse's side, directing it towards the Titan.

Something appeared in her peripheral vision; the rain had lessened enough for her to see and recognize it as someone of her squad, riding quickly upon their horse. They did not seem to be accompanied by any of the others, but she couldn't quite make out which of her friends it was. Whoever it might be, they would not be close enough to help her hunt her newfound prey.

Even if she was alone, her resolve to kill the Titan was not shaken. She kept her horse driven forward.

"Yavena!"

It was Captain Levi.

Upon hearing his voice, she knew that it was time to firmly and finally release all the anger she had harbored, all the frustration and disappointment that had been lingering in her stomach for hours on end. This would be a good thing… she well-remembered what Levi had told her, atop of Wall Rose.

_Keep that anger. Summon it when you fight. It'll keep you alive._

Thirty meters away from the Titan. Twenty. Ten—she jumped.

" _Yavena, NO!_ "

She could hardly believe it. For the first time ever, there was a vulnerable emotion in his voice: _concern._ Yavena couldn't help sparing a quick glance at her Captain.

He was close enough now that she could see those ghosts upon his face again, the ones that he'd been repressing the night before during their conversation. Based on the look in his eyes, she'd say that something like this had happened before…

But there was no time to dwell on that. Her biggest priority was this quadruped Titan right in front of her—and almost too late she realized that its hand was launching towards her.

_Almost_ too late.

Yavena spun through the air, her blades extended; the Titan's fingers were sliced off at the knuckle. Its blood, its fingertips, began to fall to the ground.

She landed upon its bicep and promptly directed her cables into the oak tree closest to her, and not a moment too soon. The Titan's other hand slapped down upon its other arm—its claws began to gouge its own skin, but it didn't seem like it cared. Those midnight eyes were pointed directly at her.

The Titan suddenly stumbled; one of its kneecaps had been hacked at, severely limiting its movement.

"Leave it!" Yavena bellowed. Her body was on fire again, the way that it had been when she had been blasting cannonballs into the Titans at Trost District, only a short week ago. "It's mine."

Whether or not Levi responded, she didn't know. Her cables latched onto the Titan's shoulder this time; she lashed out with her swords again and thrust them through the Titan's muscles as though they were paper.

She drove by it again—its other leg went down. Again—its hand was taken off by the wrist.

Yavena lost count of the number of times she whirled around, attacking the Titan's very essence. She intentionally avoided its nape; something feral had taken over her, channeling all of the things she had been feeling for the last eighteen hours and releasing them as pure violence and aggression against this Titan. But it wasn't just that. It was some sort of vengeance, for the people that had been lost in Trost District, for the soldiers the Scout Regiment lost or had never recovered. It had been a long time since she was so fully consumed with unbridled rage; she screamed with every single pass. Her throat went raw, but still she would not cease or lessen this assault. Something inside her had snapped… and whatever it was transformed Yavena into a person she couldn't recognize.

With this discovery, she decided she was done. She cut into its nape.

The Titan, covered with countless gashes of red, collapsed to the ground. Its body began to disintegrate, making the entire area an uncomfortably hot and humid place to remain.

Yavena perched herself in a tree branch, safely out of the cloud of steam. She stared at her handiwork, feeling a macabre sort of pride slowly seep through her veins. The anger and frustration she had felt was gone. Now she was simply… numb. She did not know how she was supposed to feel now.

The familiar sound of mechanical whirring and a slight shake of the branch told her that she was no longer alone. Standing only a meter away was Captain Levi, who was also looking at the Titan. Already, its skin was beginning to melt.

"I suppose you were right, Captain," Yavena heard herself say.

He looked at her from the corner of his eye.

"Anger _does_ keep you alive."

The pounding rain continued to fall, beginning to cleanse some of the Titan's blood on the ground. Over the course of the next thirty seconds, the dark pools of red became lighter and lighter as the water met them… and then they were gone. Washed away.

"You need to understand something."

Yavena did not turn her head to look at Levi, even though his voice did not carry the usual sharpness that she had gotten used to. There was something careful there, yes… but not something sharp.

"I did not say that I do not trust you due to any fault of your own. I said it because—"

"Captain!"

Yavena looked down to see the remainder of Squad Levi arriving. And when she glanced over at Levi, she saw that his expression had hardened again. Whatever he might have said was now gone, and Yavena knew that it was unlikely that she would ever discover what he had been going to tell her.

Knowing that it was again time to get moving, she put her fingers to her mouth and whistled for her horse. It ran through the glen and around the desiccated corpse—as soon as it was close enough, she leapt onto the ground and saddled her steed once more.

"Wow…"

She looked to Petra out of the corner of her eye. She—as well as Eld, Gunther, Olou, and Eren—were all staring at the Titan with wide eyes.

"You really went at it, Captain," Olou laughed, nodding in approval.

Levi saddled his horse. "That wasn't me."

Yavena felt her companions' eyes upon her. She spared them only a swift glance back and a satisfied smirk before ushering her horse forward once more. Left with little to no choice, the remainder of them followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the Old Headquarters is now in Titan Territory (but still in a decently safe spot, plus there are only so many Titans gathered around a specific area, right?) now I can write a few more fun action scenes and stuff like this. :) Hehe. Thanks again for reading and have a great day!


	11. -An Understanding-

The rain stopped for the last hour or so of Squad Levi's travels towards the old Scout Regiment castle, although it looked like it would start again soon. That hour was not enough time for them to dry off completely, but it _did_ alleviate the horrid feeling of wet socks that Yavena despised so much.

It also bought them time to take shelter in the old castle. It was very fanciful, with white stone and blue roofs and castle spires. There was something elegant about it that none of the other Scout Regiment bases possessed in quite the same way.

As Yavena began to stable her horse, she noted Petra and Olou talking only a few meters away. Olou was holding a wet handkerchief to his mouth; it seemed that he had bitten himself on the tongue rather badly this time.

"You _know_ that talking on a horse is a guaranteed way to bite your tongue," Petra said exasperatedly.

Olou shrugged. "First impressions are important. I had that rookie scared stiff."

"Actually, I think he was shocked at how dumb you are."

Yavena chuckled to herself with that. There was a reason that Captain Levi's nickname for Olou was 'Air Head,' even though he _was_ wildly skilled at combat.

"Whatever the case, it went exactly as planned," said Olou with a smirk.

The way that he was talking was different than usual. He had lowered his voice, attempted to make it more intimidating. Both Yavena and Petra sighed: they knew that this meant he was back to impersonating the Captain, likely because of Eren's arrival. It would take some convincing to get him to cut the act again.

Petra seemed as though she would attempt to start that process now. "Oye, Olou… you don't usually talk like that, you know. If, by some chance, you're back to trying to imitate Captain Levi, could you cut that out? You're nothing like him at all, actually…"

Olou just smirked again. "Are you trying to nag me, Petra? If you want to act like you're my wife, there's more you need to do first."

"I wish you had bitten your tongue off and died, bragging all about how many Titans you've killed."

There was movement from next to Yavena—she looked over to see that Eren was now stabling his own horse. He took off its saddle and placed it upon a shelf nearby, apparently lost in thought.

Figuring that she'd give him some peace of mind, Yavena said, "Don't worry about them, Eren. Sorry that we haven't given you the best introduction to the squad. It's been… a difficult few days, hasn't it?"

He nodded but did not look at her.

"Come on," Yavena heard herself say. She placed a hand upon his shoulder. "Let's see if we can head inside the castle."

Seeing as neither of them had a better plan than this, they left the stables and walked past Petra and Olou—who were back to bickering—to cross the courtyard.

Eld and Gunther were standing a number of meters away from the door, looking troubled. As Yavena approached, they each offered her a slight smile and a wave. Based on the fact that Eld clapped a hand upon her back, she figured that he had forgiven her from her earlier outburst—a wash of cool relief filled her body.

"There are weeds everywhere," Eld muttered. "This castle hasn't been used in a long time. I bet it's really dusty on the inside, too…"

"Now that is a serious problem," said the Captain's voice behind them. Yavena turned to see that he was staring at the castle in distaste—she already knew it was going to be a _long_ night of cleaning… "Let's get to work at once."

The jobs were soon divvied up: Eld and Gunther would wipe down the windows outside of the castle with help from their ODM gear, Olou would begin taking the weeds out of the courtyard and surrounding area, Eren and Yavena would begin to clean the upstairs, Petra would sweep the hallways, and Captain Levi would clean the rooms downstairs. They all ended up tying cloths around their noses and mouths to combat the dust, and somehow managed to locate a storage closet filled with brooms and clean rags to begin cleaning the castle with.

"Come on, Eren," Yavena said, unable to keep a small smile from her face. She hoped that now would be a good opportunity to hopefully make Eren's day a little better… and her own, too. "Let's grab our things and head upstairs."

They each seized a number of buckets with water, brooms, mops, and rags and hauled those things up the stairwells. There were cobwebs and layers of dust lining the railings and corners of each room—Yavena made sure to stay far away from the webs. She'd never been overly fond of spiders, although she recognized they were silly things to be scared of when Titans existed in the world.

Once they reached the top floor, Eren set down the bucket full of water. "So… how are we going to start?"

"Let's get each room done together," she suggested. "It might make it faster; and then at least we won't have to suffer through this alone."

So it was that they started with the back rooms. Yavena would dust the furniture and clean the inside of the windows while Eren would sweep and mop. Although it was a bit difficult to converse sometimes due to all of the dust, they still exchanged a few stories here and there.

Eren was quick to tell her about some of his companions from his Cadet Corps group, the 104th Division. He spoke more of Armin and Mikasa, who were incredibly intelligent and gifted with combat in that respective order. He told her of other cadets named Sasha, Conny, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Christa. Upon listing all of their names, sweeping and cleaning all the while, there was the slightest of smiles upon his face.

"I don't know if any of them will join the Scout Regiment," said Eren. He gathered up the dust upon the floor in a pan. "The attack on Trost was…"

What it was, he did not say. Perhaps because he could not, as he was in Titan form for most of the battle.

"Your friends were asked to defend the district, I assume?" Yavena asked.

Eren nodded.

"Then they know what awaits beyond the Walls. There are two types of people who emerge from a battle like that, Eren. Those who rise to the responsibility, and those who crumble in fear. If your friends are as brave and stouthearted as you say… they will rise, and you will see them again here soon."

He did not say anything, but Yavena could feel his eyes upon her back.

They spent the next number of minutes cleaning room after room. With the two of them together, their jobs were completed quickly. Yavena made sure to tell Eren to sweep and mop under every table and crevice, because surely the Captain would be inspecting their work once they claimed to be finished.

Yavena pursed her lips at the thought of the Captain. He knew why she had been angry, of course: he'd even started to explain why he'd said what he did. She wished she could have heard the reasoning behind it… if only the others had been just a little further behind.

Even so, she figured it wouldn't do well to maintain a frosty distance from Levi for long. He was her superior officer, after all… She found herself remembering that whenever he wished to express that he was no longer angry at her for something she had done—without explicitly saying anything—he had used her nickname.

But Yavena did not have such a nickname for the Captain save for 'Clean Freak,' and the one time she had used it, she might've been chewed out if not for Eld. Still, there had to be something simple—something to tell him that she wasn't angry anymore.

"Oye, Eren."

He stopped sweeping and looked up at her.

"Want to help me play a prank on the Captain?"

His cyan eyes went wide. "A… a prank? I don't know, Yavena… I can't help feeling like everyone besides you is just waiting for the opportunity to kill me."

This remark saddened her. She set down the handkerchief she'd been using to dust and walked over to him. Pulling her mask away from her nose and mouth, she said, "They just don't know what to make of you yet. Give it a few days and things will change, I promise. They're good people; just unsure."

It looked like Eren wanted to believe her. He offered a halfhearted smile in return. Then, with a sigh, he asked, "What's this prank you want to play on Captain Levi, anyway?"

"Oh, nothing too bad. I was just hoping to shower him with dust."

Eren chuckled somewhat and returned to sweeping.

For the next half-hour, they continued working together in silence. Before long, there was only one room that still needed to be cleaned; the office that overlooked the courtyard.

When Yavena stepped inside the office, she took a quick inventory of the room. There was a grand desk by the window—dust fuzz was floating in the sunlight shining through the glass—and a large bookshelf filled with books. Yavena restrained a groan, knowing that she would have to dust every single one of them. There was also a table and a couch, a grandfather clock… and a humongous wardrobe that was practically covered in even more dust. When she walked over to it and opened its door ever so slightly, she gasped and began to cough—dust lined the inside of it as well.

A light went on in her head.

"Eren," she said. "I'm going to leave this wardrobe for last, all right?"

He looked at her and shrugged before going to work.

Yavena cleaned the remainder of the room as normal, even going through the pain of taking out every single book from the bookshelf and wiping its front and back covers clean. She dropped clean handkerchiefs into her bucket of water to wipe down all of the furniture: desk, chair, table, couch, bookshelves, clock…

The sun was beginning to set by the time this last room was being finished. Seeing that Eren was stretching after completing his last round of sweeping, Yavena said, "You can tell the Captain that we're finished up here now, if you like."

Eren glanced towards the wardrobe. He pointed at it faintly—

"I'll be finishing it as he gets here," she said.

He set off towards the stairwell without any further comment.

The moment that Eren was gone, Yavena rushed over to the wardrobe. She gave it a haphazard dusting, taking care to leave some plainly dirty spots on it.

"Perfect," she mused to herself.

Yavena turned towards the window, hoping to enjoy the view of the sunset—and saw Eld and Gunther just outside, wiping the window clean. They waved amicably upon catching her eye; ecstatic by the prospect of having an audience for her little jibe, she darted over and murmured, "Don't move from this window for a bit."

"What?" asked Gunther. His voice was muffled.

"Just stay here for a bit!"

Eld and Gunther exchanged looks, but they shrugged and did so.

Half a minute later, Captain Levi ascended the stairwell. He checked the rooms that Eren and Yavena had already finished—she didn't hear him scoff, which was a good sign.

And then he was in the office, where Yavena was busying herself with cleaning the face of the grandfather clock for the third time.

"I thought Eren said you were done," he said.

"I'm just doing some finishing touches. Just to be sure."

Yavena kept an eye upon the Captain as he checked everything in the room; he ran his fingers underneath the table and upon the bookshelves. He opened the desk drawers—checked the floor underneath each piece of furniture—

Then his eyes landed on the wardrobe, and he frowned.

He took a few steps towards it, reaching out a hand. His fingers came away with a layer of grey upon his fingertips. Then he swung open the door.

A mighty cloud of dust and fuzz _poofed_ into existence right in his face.

Yavena covered a hand to her mouth as the Captain slowly turned to look at her. There was an uncertain look in his eyes, as though he was wondering whether she had left the dust there on purpose.

But then he sneezed—and Yavena burst into laughter.

Levi was glaring daggers at her, but she couldn't bring herself to care. She took a seat in the chair by the fancy desk, unable to stop herself from laughing. In between gasps for air, she somehow managed to choke out, "My mistake, Captain. I might have forgotten to clean that one."

"You're insufferable."

She just snickered some more. When she happened to glance outside the window, she saw that Gunther seemed more than capable of putting on a straight face as he continued to wash the windows. Eld was turned away, but his shoulders were shaking.

"Clean the whole room again," said Captain Levi. "There's dust all over it now." He turned aside and began to exit the doorway, but just before he could step out of sight, he turned around.

Yavena had finally regained control of herself and was watching him go, although there was still a silly grin upon her face. Upon seeing the exasperated look in his eyes, she thought it safe to add, "I'll take care of it, Captain. In the meantime, though… I think there are some dust bunnies in your hair."

"Tch."

Then he was gone.

Despite Yavena spending the next hour redoing the work that she and Eren had done earlier—the Captain had forbidden Eren from helping her, so she was alone on the second attempt—she couldn't help thinking that it was absolutely worth it. Once this task was done, she retreated to the kitchens to prepare some tea, only to find that she wasn't alone.

Eld and Gunther were in the kitchen as well. The squad had brought sufficient rations and supplies to restock the pantries with, although it also appeared that despite the long absence, there were still some sufficient ingredients for cooking like salt and flour. Gunther was putting together a soup while Eld was making bread for the night's meal. As soon as they locked eyes with Yavena, all three of them began laughing again.

"I thought you were going to be dismissed from the squad," Gunther said, smiling sideways. "I don't think _anyone's_ ever tried to poke fun at the Captain…"

Yavena smirked somewhat. "I couldn't help myself. I just saw the wardrobe, and…"

Eld chuckled again—Yavena decided to approach him and help him in making the loaves of bread. Even though it had been a while since he had taught her how to do as much, she still remembered all of his instructions.

"What do you think of the castle?" Eld asked. He began to roll the bread dough, making a pouf of flour appear in the air and splatter his and Yavena's jackets.

She laughed and started wiping off the flour. "I think it's beautiful. I'm lucky, though… I vaguely remember some of the passageways. This was the base that Commander Shadies utilized when Hange and I first became members of the Scout Regiment, although we didn't use it for very long."

Gunther nodded. "I forget how long you've been in the Regiment… you're probably one of the top veterans…"

Yavena smiled somewhat, but it was a bittersweet gesture. She had survived countless others, seen faces come and go faster than the seasons would change. But somehow, throughout it all, she and Hange had stuck together. "Yes. Almost fourteen years now… isn't that strange? I've been here twice as long as you, Eld…"

"If anything, that just means we have to respect the longevity," said Eld. He glanced at Yavena from the corner of his eye and winked. "Don't go dying on us anytime soon. We'll be lost without our elder to guide us."

"Oh, shut up," she laughed, splashing more flour upon his jacket.

It was an hour later that all of Squad Levi were sitting around one of the tables in the dining hall. A number of candles had been lit, but it was still rather dark. As they proceeded to eat their meal, Eld began to speak of rumors he'd heard before they had set off that morning. "I assume our orders to remain on standby will last for a few more days. But I hear they're planning a major expedition outside the Wall thirty days from now… and that fresh graduates are going to participate straightaway too."

Gunther frowned and asked, "Is that true, Eld? That seems pretty sudden to me, especially since the rookies already had to endure this latest Titan attack."

Yavena nodded in agreement and took a bite of her bread. She couldn't help thinking that that was fast, even for Commander Erwin's standards.

Olou just smirked and muttered, "I bet those brats were scared out of their wits."

"Were you not, when you were on your first mission?" Yavena said coolly. She remembered his first job. He'd been frightened beyond comprehension; it took him four missions to get his first Titan kill.

Olou glared at her and was about to respond, but Petra interrupted him by turning to the Captain and asking, "Is this true, sir?"

"I'm not in charge of coming up with missions," said Levi. He grabbed the cup of tea in front of him and added a half-spoon of sugar to it. "But, knowing Erwin, he's put far more thought into this than we have."

"There's never been a situation like this before," Eld mused. His dark eyes were somewhere far away as he spoke. "So many lives were lost in establishing a route to reclaim Wall Maria. Just when it seemed like it was all for nothing… suddenly, a completely different ray of hope has presented itself."

Yavena glanced towards Eren, only to see everyone else do the same. When he caught her eyes, she made sure to smile encouragingly—the last thing she wished to do was put even more pressure on him. He had enough to deal with already.

Eld seemed to feel along the same lines as Yavena. With a genuine curiosity to his voice, he asked, "How does this 'changing into a Titan' thing work anyway, Eren?"

Eren swallowed. "My memories of it aren't very clear, but it's like being in a trance. I set it off by biting my hand like so and…"

But he trailed off. There was something obviously bothering him—something he had just remembered, or perhaps something that he wasn't supposed to remember. Either way, it did not seem as though Eren wished to participate further in the topic of conversation.

"You guys know you can't get any more information out of him than what's in the reports," said Captain Levi, taking a sip of his tea. "Not that they won't try, of course… Better hope you don't end up dead when they tinker with you, Eren…"

Yavena blinked, suddenly realizing who Levi was referring to, and exclaimed, "I'm sure they'll be very careful, Captain."

"Are you? _I'm_ not."

Before Yavena could speak up again in defense of her friend, there was a loud knock on the door. Everyone jolted and looked towards the door save for Levi, who just sighed.

The door opened to reveal Hange smiling brightly. "Sorry for the wait, Eren! I'm actually in charge of examining those two Titans we caught in town. I'd like you to help with my experiments tomorrow, so I came to get permission!"

"Hange!" Yavena cried—her friend walked over to Yavena's side and threw a careless arm around her shoulder, though Hange did not look away from Eren.

"Experiments?" Eren repeated. "What would I have to do?"

Hange grinned and dove into the seat next to him. "Why, the most exhilarating thing possible, of course!"

Eren smiled, though he scratched the back of his head uncomfortably. "E-eh… I'm not in a position to give permission myself. I don't have authority over myself, you see…"

"Levi!" called Hange. "What are Eren's plans for tomorrow?"

"Cleaning the garden."

Hange snorted at the answer—Levi's scowl deepened—and said, "Great! It's decided, then. I look forward to tomorrow, Eren!" They grabbed his hand and squeezed it, a happy flush overtaking their face.

Yavena glanced back at Captain Levi to see how he would take this. As expected, he was certainly less than pleased, but he also didn't seem to be in a rush to argue Hange for Eren's custody.

"Aye, all right, but… what kind of Titan experiments are we talking about here?" asked Eren, who still looked uneasy.

Across the table, Olou hissed, "Don't ask that!"

"Ah, I knew it. I thought you might be curious enough to ask," said Hange. Their glasses reflected the faint light of the candles in the hall; underneath them, their eyes were as wide as saucers.

Everyone got up from their seats and began to leave the dining hall, knowing that Hange was about to go on one of their infamous tangents. Yavena was the last to rise, although as she walked out, she placed a hand on Hange's shoulder and said, "Go easy on him, all right? I'm sure he's learned a lot about Titans already…"

"Oh, of course, of course," Hange said, waving a dismissive hand. "I'll just be telling him the essentials…"

Yavena laughed and looked back to Eren, who seemed confused. "Good luck, Eren," she said.

Eren shot her a weak smile—and then she too left the dining hall.

Seeing as it was still relatively early in the night, Yavena decided to head back to the kitchens and grab herself another cup of tea. There was still plenty left, which meant she was free to take whatever she wished.

As Yavena enjoyed her drink, she moved over to stand by the window. She could see some of the ramparts from here, and the garden down below. Once it was cleaned and had new flowers planted, it would certainly be very lovely… she could see herself enjoying a book there quite often on pleasant days.

Yavena's recollections brought her back to the first few days in the castle. She had almost forgotten that it existed—only three months after she had joined the Regiment did the then-Commander, Keith Shadies, decide to relocate headquarters inside of Wall Rose. She had thought this a practical choice at the time… the people were beginning to lose faith in the power of the Scout Regiment. Missions were rarely successful, and always at a price too high to celebrate. The Commander had been starting to lose his willpower.

Hange had looked up to Commander Shadies immensely. Yavena didn't quite know why—she was more impressed by the then-Section-Commander Erwin Smith, even though she wasn't in his section. But Yavena had realized how upset Hange had been when they had received the orders to relocate… this base had been perfect for Hange to conduct their research, away from the frightened civilians, somewhat close to Titan territory so they could study their behaviors and mannerisms.

"There's nothing for us so far inside the Walls," Hange had said in frustration. "If we retreat there, we'll never be able to learn anything!"

"We need to bolster our numbers first," Yavena had replied. "But after that is done, Hange… I'm sure we'll be back."

The words had comforted Hange at the time, at least.

Yavena glanced back up with the intent of looking at the stars and moon, but something else caught her eye. Someone was sitting upon the ramparts, glancing down into the courtyard…

She did not have to look closer to know who it was. She refilled her cup of tea and grabbed a second, pausing only to put a half of a spoonful of sugar in the second cup, before leaving the kitchens and heading towards the stairwell.

As she walked through the castle, Yavena could not think of anything except how very empty it was. It was eerie; she was so used to having noise surround her, soldiers and officers in each corner. But that was not the case here—she could hear the echo of her footsteps upon the stone, as if the castle was haunted.

It did not take long for Yavena to reach the door that would open out onto the castle ramparts, though she did stop upon standing in front of it. She could not help but fear, for a brief moment, that perhaps Levi did not want to see her after the little prank she'd pulled earlier that day.

But she had questions that she wanted answered.

She nudged the door open with her foot, as she was still holding the two cups in her hands. Sure enough, there was Levi, sitting upon the trellis of the castle walls, still gazing down into the courtyard. He did not indicate that he knew she had arrived in any way.

Yavena placed the second cup down beside him—he took it wordlessly, holding onto it for a while. Steam rose from the cup and curled into the air before vanishing without a trace. Figuring that it would be best to say something, Yavena murmured, "Consider that an apology for the little prank I played on you earlier today."

He scoffed. "Tch. If you ever do something like that again, I won't be helping you the next time a Titan is chasing your ass."

She laughed lightly at this, knowing that the Captain's threat was an empty one. Still, she had received her fun for the day. There would be no need to torment him in the near future. "Mind if I join you?"

Levi did not say anything, but he gestured to the trellis next to him.

She smiled to herself as she sat down, figuring that based on this reaction alone, he had understood what she had been trying to say earlier. But Yavena did not wish to begin the conversation. Even though she had questions, she wanted it to be the Captain to bring it up, to be willing to finish his unfinished explanation.

They sat quietly for a long while, during which time Yavena found herself looking through the stars. It was easier to see them so far out in the wild, removed from the cities and the bustle of Trost District or the Scout Regiment headquarters. Fragments of memory flashed through her mind, including one of Yavena's mother teaching her of the star that would always save the lost.

"That one, there?" Vanessa Verman had said, pointing at a particularly large and bright star. "That one is called the Soldier's Guide. If you are ever lost, dear girl, follow that star. It will lead you north… it will bring you home."

Her mother had always loved the mystery of the sky, the way it stretched up so endlessly and into infinity. She was fascinated with the sun and the clouds too, but the moon and stars had always been her favorites. Many times during her childhood, Yavena had wished that her mother was home more often so she could teach her the constellations.

But that was never meant to be. Vanessa was frequently away during her childhood… and even when Yavena and her mother had been in the Scout Regiment together, there was never enough time.

She closed her eyes, wishing that she could've been taught the name of one more star—just one—before her mother had sacrificed herself to save her.

"I grew up in the Underground District."

Yavena's eyes snapped open, but she did not turn her gaze towards the Captain. A gust of wind trailed through the air—off to the east from where it had blown, a number of grey clouds were gathering, slowly blocking the stars.

Only when she felt his eyes upon her did Yavena look his way. Much like earlier that very day, something had been taken off the edge of his face; a layer of his defenses removed, albeit temporarily. He spoke again. "I had friends there. Good friends. Farlan and Isabel. They… became Scouts with me."

"Had?" Yavena murmured.

He nodded. "They died on our first mission to a Titan with crimson eyes, one that sprinted on all four of its limbs. They didn't know it was coming—there was too much rain and fog. And I… wasn't with them when it attacked."

Yavena took a slow breath. So _that_ was why he had looked so pale earlier that morning, when she had attacked that Titan. If she had been aware of how similar it was to that memory, one that had obviously caused him such great pain…

"I didn't know," she said quietly.

Levi exhaled through his nose; a bitter and disheartened sound. "You had no way to."

Yavena did not know what to say to that, so she was quiet. Levi did not accept pity: to say that she was sorry for his loss would mean nothing at best, and be offensive at worst. This was simply a moment where there was nothing to say… to let the silence speak for her.

The clouds began to inch closer to where they were sitting, promising more rain. Another wind chilled the air; her whole body grew cold save for her hands, which were still clasped around the little teacup.

She remembered the day where she had first heard of Levi. It had been said that Section-Commander Erwin Smith was recruiting a few people in a rather unconventional way. Yavena had not been too interested; so long as people were willing to fight Titans, that was good enough for her.

Then whispers began floating around the Scout Regiment: one of those recruits was an incredibly skilled warrior by name of Levi. He had taught himself how to use omni-directional gear that he'd taken from the Military Police. People were speculating how he would be climbing through the chain of command, and how many Titans he had already killed within a year.

"Sometimes I forget that I've been in the Scout Regiment longer than you have," Yavena said. She kept her gaze pinned upon the clouds still crossing the sky. "I never really saw much of you until six years ago, when you became Captain."

"Which is another reason I realized it was unfair to say that I did not trust you."

The warmth in Yavena's hands spread to her arms and shoulders before nestling somewhere deep within her chest. Compared to how she had felt earlier that morning: hollow, empty, and uncertain… this was idyllic. But all she did was look towards Levi and wait for him to continue to speak.

"You've survived this long. You will make your decisions when needed. I will have to trust in those choices… and trust that you will remain alive after making them."

A slow smile spread across her face. He did not say the words typically associated with an apology, but Yavena knew that this was his way of doing so.

And to prove his sincerity, he had told her something: something of himself. He had not told her all that much, but what he _had_ entrusted her with put a lot of his mystery together. Yavena knew now why he was so protective of his squad: because he had lost one before. She knew now why he was so slow to trust: he had grown up in the Underground District, where only the strongest survived. She knew now why he had said he didn't trust her: because it had been so long since he had been able to trust in _anyone,_ save for Erwin.

In retrospect… this was quite high praise, for him to turn around and admit that for once, he had been wrong.

"May I ask you something?" Yavena heard herself say. "You could've been a Section-Commander if you wanted. Why aren't you?"

Levi looked at her from the corner of his eye. "Why aren't _you?_ "

Yavena blinked: she was well-versed with the answer. She wasn't a Section-Commander because she didn't _want_ to be, the same way that she had refused the title of Captain.

"I see," was all she replied.

Silence once again overtook the ramparts, save for the distant sounds of thunder. Yavena couldn't help smiling again—for some reason, she had always slept exceptionally well during thunderstorms.

By the time another fifteen minutes had passed, Yavena's teacup was empty, and the rainclouds were almost directly above her. But still, she was not quite ready to get up from her spot upon the ramparts. She was comfortable here, enjoying Levi's silent company… she was happy.

Unfortunately, it seemed that Levi was not as content to ignore the incoming weather. He rose from his spot and muttered, "If we stay here much longer, we'll have to mop the hallways again in the morning."

Yavena couldn't help but want to laugh. Trying not to break out into a silly grin, she murmured, "Clean Freak."

He glared at her somewhat, but it was not a very intense one. Unthreatened, Yavena stepped through the door that Levi held open back into the castle.

They were quiet all the way down, their footsteps once again echoing off the walls of the cavernous hallways. As they walked closer to the rooms that they would be occupying, Yavena heard Hange's voice excitedly talking from the dining room once more.

With a sigh, she said, "I'd better go check on Eren. He's probably being too polite to excuse himself, and Hange's probably lost track of time again…"

"Not surprising."

Yavena rolled her eyes somewhat, but said, "I'll drop off the cups before I do that. You said I'll be cleaning the storage room tomorrow, yes?" Without waiting for a response, she gently took the cup from his hands and turned towards the kitchens.

"Good night, Mystery."

Yavena felt her eyes go wide, and she turned back around… only to see that Captain Levi was already walking away.

As she walked inside the kitchens and carefully washed out the dishes, she could not keep a smile from filling her face. The last time that he had utilized the nickname she'd picked out for herself was the day that she'd picked it—and that had been over six months ago. She couldn't help wondering why he'd brought it up again; why he'd remembered.

Yavena stacked the cups upside-down and walked into the dining hall. True to her speculations, Hange and Eren were still sitting at the long table. Hange's face was flushed with excitement, but—much to Yavena's surprise—Eren seemed just as interested in what they were talking about.

"Hange," said Yavena, trying not to laugh. "It's starting to get late. You and Eren are going to need to sleep soon, since it sounds as though you've got a big day ahead of you."

"Hold on, I'm just going to tell him about _one_ more experiment—"

"Hange." Yavena stood beside her friend with her arms crossed and an eyebrow raised.

Hange finally tore their gaze away from Eren's face and looked back to Yavena. It looked as though they were on the verge of arguing, perhaps to say that this next experiment was 'the most important one,' but they stopped theirself. A smile crept across _Hange's_ face as they sneakily said, "All right, all right, but you're going to tell me what's got _you_ in such a good mood."

The fact that Hange was able to detect this was rather terrifying. Yavena had been very careful not to look too happy for this very reason, and yet it seemed like Hange had sniffed out her joy nonetheless.

Still, Yavena knew that if she claimed that the answer as 'nothing,' that Hange would never let her rest. She would be given that infamous stink-eye—and _no one_ ever wanted to receive that. So all Yavena said was, "Mystery."

Hange narrowed their eyes. "Eh?"

"Mystery."

Hange and Eren exchanged looks, obviously still confused. Taking the quiet as an opportunity to speak, Yavena said, "I'm going to head to bed. I don't know whether you both will be doing the same, but… remember that you'll need rest for what you wish to do tomorrow."

Without waiting for a response, Yavena left the dining hall. The rain began to plink against the castle's windows, slow and steady at first, before picking up in speed. Thunder and lightning soon followed.

Yavena was quick to fall asleep that night, with the comforting sounds of the storm assisting her. It was a dreamless sleep, an easy one—a kind of rest that she hadn't been able to take advantage of in a long time…

And one that she wouldn't be able to.

It was only five or six hours later that Yavena's door was burst open. She gasped sharply and sat up to see Hange, completely distraught, in her doorway.

"Hange, what—"

"My two Titans have been killed."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good evening, everyone! Thanks again for reading this far! I hope the story's been all right. :) If you like to, feel free to let me know how you feel about it so far, or point out any typos or anything like that! I just want to say that I am *perfectly* fine with anyone bringing spelling errors to my attention. Also, here on Ao3, I'm trying to keep Hange's gender neutral (as it is in the manga) so if I miss a spot where I accidentally refer to Hange as "she" instead of "they," please tell me about that, too!! 
> 
> That's all I had to say; have a good one, and take care of yourselves!
> 
> P.S. In case anyone's wondering: the answer is yes, I had WAY too much fun writing Yavena's prank on Levi. Huehuehue :3
> 
> P.P.S. Also, when I put the tag 'Slow Burn' on this fic, I really fuckin' meant it. Just so you're aware. ;)


	12. -The Real Enemy-

* * *

The entire squad accompanied Hange back to Trost District. Even though they had been given orders to remain on standby in compliance with the courtroom ruling, it seemed that Commander Erwin had something important that he wished to tell the Captain—and he had been instructed to bring the remainder of his squad along, too.

So it was that a few hours after dawn, Yavena was riding upon horseback next to Hange and Captain Levi. While Levi was obviously unbothered by the news they had received, Hange's expression was dark and determined.

Yavena did not know what Hange would do if the Titans truly were dead. She couldn't help but think that it shouldn't have been possible… they had been guarded, sufficiently held down. Not to mention that there was no good reason for them to have been killed: any soldier within any of the military branches would know that this was humanity's best chance to learn more about the Titans. It wouldn't make _sense_ to kill them…

Unless someone was intentionally trying to sabotage Hange's efforts.

That was a dark thought, and Yavena knew it. But she also knew that it remained a possibility; one that she and the officers couldn't ignore.

"Don't worry, Hange," Yavena heard herself say. "We'll find out what happened."

Hange tilted her head down and would not look at her.

Only a few hours later, they were back inside the city. The civilians had not been restored to Trost yet, but it was still crowded due to soldiers of the Wall Garrison and the Scout Regiment all standing about. Hange almost plowed a few people over in their efforts to get to where the two Titans had been captured.

When they entered the gated area, Hange fell to their knees.

"Sawney! Beane!" they gasped. Tears were beginning to well in their eyes.

Yavena glanced back to her Captain with a clear question on her face. He nodded his head towards the Section-Commander.

Grateful for his permission, Yavena stepped forward and placed a hand upon Hange's shoulder. Her friend began to scream; Yavena grit her teeth as she stared at the skeletons upon the ground. She'd say that they had once belonged to a four-meter and a seven or eight-meter Titan… but not anymore.

Hange grabbed Yavena's hand upon their shoulder and squeezed it tight, so tight that it almost hurt. "Tell me this isn't happening!"

Yavena did not know what to say, and so she said nothing. In an effort of support, she too sank down to her knees and wrapped an arm around Hange's shoulder.

The soldiers of the Wall Garrison and the Scout Regiment were whispering to one another. Most of them were attempting to figure out who had killed the Titans, and—perhaps more importantly— _why._

"They were such valuable test subjects," Gunther murmured from somewhere behind the two soldiers. "Did soldiers do this?"

Yavena looked back to Gunther, catching his eye. They shared a significant look… she knew that they both believed it to have been someone in the military.

At that moment, Eld appeared. He had just been conversing with one of the officers in the Wall Garrison. With a sigh, he said, "It appears so. They haven't found who's responsible yet. Apparently both were killed at the same time just before dawn, but by the time the guards noticed, whoever did it had used omni-directional gear to get away…"

"That means it could've been a team of at least two people who planned this," Yavena murmured. She pat Hange's shoulder consolingly.

Hange buried their face into the crook of Yavena's neck. They were no longer screaming, but tears trailed down their cheeks and onto Yavena's jacket—Yavena could hardly blame them for such distress. Hange had been trying to convince Erwin for so long for just the _opportunity_ to capture a Titan… and now that they had two in custody, they were only granted a few days with them to try and advance humanity's knowledge before they were stripped away.

For a few minutes Yavena remained kneeling on the stone streets, doing everything she could to be a supportive presence. As she looked across the sizzling skeletons, she bit the inside of her lip.

Eld had said they'd used omni-directional gear. That meant it was _definitely_ someone in the military…

"Could it have been someone who just really hates Titans?" Petra asked softly.

"No. There's more to it than that," Yavena said, a jagged vice to her voice. She glanced back at Petra with a dark expression. "Anyone in the military knows what help and assistance could come to us with the capturing of a Titan. This was deliberate."

Petra's eyes widened in horrification, but before she could respond, footsteps drew near—Commander Erwin had appeared.

"Lieutenant Verman, I have need of your counsel," he said. Erwin was not looking at Yavena as he spoke; his eyes were fastened upon the Titans' skeletons. "You and Levi will follow me, if you please."

She nodded and squeezed Hange's hand. Hange released her, but only after whispering, "I'll check on you in a moment," did Yavena rise and proceed to shadow the leader of the Scout Regiment.

Yavena followed the Commander outside of the secured enclosure to where Levi was standing, and still they continued onward. It appeared they were heading towards a secured building—some of the most elite Scout Regiment soldiers were standing casually nearby, but by the way they kept their gear on and their hoods up, Yavena knew they were actually standing guard.

Commander Erwin gestured them inside. Yavena passed through the door and over to the far side of the room, where a few chairs had been set up in an otherwise empty and destroyed building.

Only after closing the door behind them and checking the status of the windows did Erwin begin to speak. "I'm sure you both have come to the realization that this was not the action of a radical." He looked troubled, and yet unsurprised. "I will confess that I have been expecting a retaliation of this kind ever since Hange told me of the Titans' capture."

"How?" asked Yavena. "How could you know?"

A shadow lined his face, making Erwin appear very grave. "It was a hunch only, at first. Capturing a Titan had not been achieved for nearly two decades prior to this week… and now I know my hunch was correct."

"Speak plainly, Erwin," said Captain Levi, crossing his arms. "What hunch?"

"That there are other Titans that walk among us—Intelligent Titans like Eren, but on the opposing side."

A startled muteness fell over the room, making the already close quarters feel as though they were suffocating. Yavena could not help but look over to Levi in surprise, as if to gather what _he_ thought of such a statement—but of course she shouldn't have bothered, seeing as little to no change overcame him at all.

"Other Titans?" Yavena murmured, breaking the disquiet. "Do you mean…"

An impossible thought came across her mind, and she stopped talking.

Erwin, however, was a sharp man. He picked up on what she had thought immediately. With a slow nod, he said, "You see what I have been concerned about, Lieutenant. I believe that the Armored and the Colossal Titans are also human."

Yavena sat back in her chair. A ringing had taken over the space between her ears, so loud that it was almost painful.

If the Commander was right, if there were other Titans like Eren out there… the Armored and the Colossal, for example… how many others would be out there? Which side would they be on? And where could they possibly be— _who_ could they possibly be?

"I suspect that the Armored and Colossal Titans have infiltrated our military," said Commander Erwin. "There was nowhere to go after they destroyed Wall Maria five years ago, save for further inside the Walls. They would've needed to hide while keeping an ear to the ground. The military would be perfect."

Levi frowned. "Why would they show themselves now?"

"Because Eren forced their hand," replied Erwin. He paced the room restlessly, and yet the calm demeanor with which he spoke betrayed how much thought had gone into this theory. "I believe that these Intelligent Titans were waiting on something—perhaps it was Eren, perhaps something else. No matter what it was, we now know that some Titans have the capabilities of alternating between forms. Their secret is out, and knowing this, they have begun to take action."

The ringing in Yavena's ears began to subside. The maddening thing was that everything Commander Erwin was saying made sense. But all of the confusion, the speculation, the uncertainty… it all boiled down to one simple fact.

"We cannot be sure of anything due to our lack of knowledge about the Titans. That's why they killed Sawney and Beane," she heard herself murmur. "They don't want us to learn more… it _was_ sabotage."

"Yes. There is no other explanation."

Yavena felt the Commander watching her, approving of the fast pace with which she was keeping up. That didn't make it easier to swallow.

"So now we must smoke them out," said Levi. His silver eyes regarded Erwin coolly, and yet there was also some kind of anticipation in his voice.

Erwin nodded. He clasped his hands together and said, "I have come up with a plan to identify the moles in our military. I am only entrusting it, however, to those of us that have been in the Scout Regiment since three years before Wall Maria fell. That is why I asked you both to come with me—you have been within our ranks for long enough that I can trust you. I ask you, however, not to repeat any of what we say in this room to anyone else."

Yavena glanced over at her Captain only to see that he was already looking back at her. They exchanged a single nod—a moment of understanding—before turning back to Erwin with identical looks of fortitude.

"Tell us everything, Erwin," Levi said.

For the next ten minutes, Commander Erwin spoke of how the next mission outside of the Walls would be an attempt to take one of the enemy Intelligent Titans as a captive. He spoke of his suspicions of the enemy taking interest in Eren, and how Eren would act as bait the moment they stepped outside of the Walls.

"We will distribute conflicting information regarding where Eren will be riding in the formation," said Erwin. He pointed to a drawing of a map, one that he had been constantly referencing since the beginning of his explanation. Upon it was a hasty sketch of the Scout Regiment's long-range enemy-scouting formation. "Officers ranking Sergeant and above will be told that he is on the inner-left side of the formation, close to the supply wagons. The new recruits and soldiers underneath the rank of Sergeant will be told that he is on the right, by the perimeter defense squads. In reality, we keep Eren safe-guarded in the middle. Both of you will be riding with him; although he is to the bait, if anything goes wrong, I expect you to protect him to the best of your abilities. Everything is lost without Eren."

Yavena nodded resolutely at this. Her fists clenched upon remembering what Eld had said at supper only the previous day: that Eren was a new and entirely unprecedented ray of hope… and yet, whether he knew it or not, he was now the only one left.

"I have approved the development of Hange's restraining devices. They will be set up in the Forest of Giant Trees. You will direct Eren through the forest—shoot an acoustic shell when you have visual confirmation of an Intelligent Titan. Do not stray your course, or the mission will fail. Is this understood?"

Sunlight fell upon Erwin's face through the far window, but all it did was illuminate the troubled creases upon his forehead, the frown lines by his mouth. It was clear that he was revising this plan in his head once more, even as he relayed it to Yavena and Levi.

Hoping to bring him some sort of reassurance, Yavena saluted and answered, "Aye, Commander."

Erwin finally glanced up from his map. Seeing the straightness to her posture, the rigid way that she kept with tradition, he finally smiled again. "Lieutenant—Yavena. We've been working alongside each other for over a decade now. You don't need to salute me anymore."

Yavena blinked, but dropped the gesture. With a sheepish smile, she said, "At this point, it would feel weird not to, Commander."

He chuckled at this and said, "As you wish. But know that you are welcome to call me Erwin. Now, this last part of the plan is very important. Eren will likely wish to transform once he sees that an Intelligent Titan is pursuing you. If he does so, shoot a red flare into the air. If we are to succeed, we must be always aware of where Eren and his pursuer are."

"Understood," said Levi, though that was all he said.

"Very well. Then you and your squad should return to the old headquarters right away. The longer that Eren remains in the city, the more likely it is that he will be discovered, and taken away from our custody. I will meet with you again to give you further details in three weeks."

This was obviously a firm note of dismissal. Both Yavena and Levi rose from their chairs before turning towards the door… but as she grabbed at its handle, Yavena looked into the room once more, into the Commander's sharp blue eyes. "Be careful, Erwin."

He nodded and turned towards the window, outside of which the sun was dipping lower and lower into the sky. "You as well, Yavena."

She closed the door behind her.

* * *

Luckily, Captain Levi gave Yavena permission to check on Hange again before they left Trost District. Hange was still distraught over what had happened, although they decided to vent their grief by showing Yavena their notebook with all that they had been able to discover before Sawney and Beane's untimely deaths.

Even though they had had them for little more than a few days, Hange had revealed a decent amount of information regarding their nature. Smaller Titans, for example, were more likely to grow drowsy faster when blocked off from the sun. But it was the larger Titan that had apparently been more receptive to pain—Hange sniffled as they explained how they were forced to torture them both for these notes.

"Sawney was more introverted," they said, pointing at a quick sketch of a Titan in the notebook. Yavena could only guess this was the four-meter; its face had been rather symmetric with little to no oddities, if the sketch was to be believed. "While Beane was never one to hold back on what he was feeling. There were quite a few close calls with him, with Beane!"

Yavena could only imagine how many times Hange had put theirself in danger to obtain the information that they had. It was probably for the best that she hadn't been around during all of the experiments—she likely would've suffered a heart attack due to Hange's recklessness.

Fifteen minutes after Hange had begun talking about the Titans, however, Captain Levi approached and said it was time to leave. Yavena offered her friend a hesitant smile and promised to listen to more of Hange's experiments the next time she saw them before following her Captain's orders.

The ride back to the old headquarters was a pensive one. It was a beautiful night, with nary a cloud or artificial light to be seen. Yavena had to light a torch and hold it with one hand in order to direct her horse through the forest paths, and even then, it was still difficult to see. She was glad that the horses the Scout Regiment rode were of the best quality; specially bred to have a hardy endurance and sharp eyes.

Throughout the ride, Yavena could not help but think of how uncomfortable it was, to have to restrain the truth of the next mission from the rest of her squad-mates. She figured it would not even be safe to speak to Levi about it, either, on the off-chance that someone were to overhear.

Based on the way that he was staring straight ahead, she guessed that he too was thinking about what Erwin had confided in them. It was hard not to—if the Commander was right about even one or two facets of his overall hunch, the revelation would be world-changing. It seemed like everything was moving so fast, ever since the news that Trost District was under attack had arrived.

That had been about a week ago now… yes, things were moving _very_ fast.

Yavena blinked, having realized that the others were whispering and laughing to one another about something. She was about to turn around and ask what the fuss was all about when Olou's voice called out, "Oye, Mystery! A few of us wanted to ask you something!"

"No, _no,_ do not lump me in with you," Eld said quickly, intentionally moving his horse away from Olou. Despite the darkness, Yavena could see he was flushed.

If Eld was distancing himself from whatever shenanigans Olou and Gunther were up to, then it was likely that the question would be personal, inappropriate, or both… and it would be better to get it over with sooner rather than later.

"What is it?" she asked.

Olou chuckled to himself. "I was thinking the other day—you're quite the impressive woman, and marrying age… are you into younger men at all?"

Yavena snorted and shook her head. "Are you asking if I'm into _you,_ perchance?" She turned around and smirked at the expression on his face; once again, it was obvious that he was trying to imitate the Captain. "Listen, Olou, I'll make you a deal. If we both live to see the day where there are no more Titans, and we are able to live a life outside of the Walls… if neither of us are promised to anyone else, _then_ I'll marry you. How about that?"

She figured to know very well why he was asking. While Petra was the youngest at eighteen years of age, Olou was not far behind at twenty years, and his birthday had been recently whereas Yavena's twenty-ninth date of birth was coming up. Gunther was also six years younger than she was—and Eld too was only twenty-four, which was almost five years her junior.

When she glanced back to him, she saw Olou was shocked. Apparently he had not expected this answer—he began to stammer somewhat, which just made Yavena and the others burst into laughter.

"But to answer your original question… age is not typically something I worry over when thinking of someone to care about," she said. The smirk had been wiped from her face as she thought of Paul, who had been four years her senior. "There are a lot of things that I can overlook, if I have a genuine bond with someone that I have with no one else. Elias… he was like that."

The laughter from the rest of their comrades began to hush. It was Gunther who murmured, "You never did tell us who he was."

"For a little while, the person that I was convinced I'd spend my life with," Yavena murmured. From somewhere far away, owls were beginning to hoot their nightly songs—she glanced up at the sky and bit the inside of her cheek. "There was… something about him. Even now, I cannot describe it. But we had an _understanding._ There is no other word for it. It's very difficult to find."

Yavena felt her friends' eyes upon her back. When she glanced back to them, she smiled softly. "I may be betraying how much older I am than you five, but… if you ever find something like that, don't let it slip away. Fight for it."

Gunther nodded; Petra's eyes were wide; Eld was smiling softly; and Olou looked as though she had rather stumped him. Eren was quite young, and thus didn't seem to have too much invested in such a conversation—but he seemed far away, perhaps thinking of his friends that were still in the Cadet Corps.

There was not much time left until they returned to the old headquarters. Within the next half-hour they were stabling their horses and cleaning the saddles. Captain Levi was distributing instructions for the following day, as they had not been able to finish cleaning the castle due to all the hubbub within Trost District.

Yavena, however, decided that instead of waiting for the morning, she would get started on the garden outside. She wished to relax there sooner rather than later, especially in preparation for the intense mission that was coming up…

And so she grabbed a broom from inside the castle and began sweeping loose dirt and rubble away from the planters and all of the walkways. She could not help but smile upon seeing that a few flowers—purple petunias—were still alive underneath all of the mess. Perhaps she was overthinking things, but Yavena chose to interpret this as a sign: that even after so much overgrowth and decay, some beauty could exist in dreary places. Maybe the rest of the world would be like that, when she would finally get to see far areas beyond the Wall…

Unfortunately, it seemed that there were some dirt stains integrated within the stone that were not able to be cleansed by a broom. They required a bucket of water and a number of handkerchiefs.

Groaning somewhat, Yavena began to walk back into the castle. She wasn't looking forward to the labor of scrubbing floors upon her knees… but since she was already cleaning, she might as well—

The moment she opened the door to the kitchens, however, she promptly bumped into Eld.

"Ooph!" she cried; something hot was spilled all over her uniform. Yavena gasped sharply and lurched back as her skin began to burn.

"Shit!" Eld exclaimed—he placed two now empty teacups upon the counter and dashed towards the closet, where the cleaning supplies that Yavena had arrived for were hiding. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know you were coming inside…"

Yavena swallowed the tears that began to burn in her eyes and forced a smile onto her face. "It's fine, Eld, it's fine… you don't happen to have any cold water nearby, do you?"

"Over in the bronze kettle, I didn't heat that one yet."

She nodded in thanks and rushed over to the aforementioned kettle, splashing the cold water upon her neck and chest. It definitely helped to cool down the blazing of her skin—with a restrained sigh, Yavena took off her jacket and outer shirt, knowing that she would have to wash them immediately so they didn't stain.

Eld returned with a bar of soap and another bucket of water, placing it down in front of her. His ears were red as he said, "Well, that was a right mess of things. I saw you cleaning the garden and thought you might like a drink…"

Yavena looked up at him as she dunked her jacket into the bucket. She gingerly took the soap from his hands and smiled again. "That's a very nice thought, Eld, thank you. Don't worry about this… it happens."

"Aye… it happens."

But he didn't sound very convinced of it.

For a little while, the only sound to be heard in the kitchen was that of Yavena scrubbing her orange jacket and cream blouse. She knew that she was only clad in a white undershirt now, but she didn't feel uncomfortable around Eld. It wasn't like she was with Olou, who would've been unabashedly staring at her breasts through her shirt, or Levi, who was her Captain and commanding officer.

It was Eld; someone safe.

As she continued with this task, Eld rose to his feet and mused, "Well, I hope that mishap hasn't ruined the prospect of tea itself. Would you like some?"

"Yes, please. That would be nice."

At last, Yavena's shirt was clean again, though she knew it would take hours to dry. She wrung out her clothes as best as she was able and placed them upon the backs of some of the chairs. Eld returned to her side and—from a safe distance—handed her the teacup.

"Thank you," she said with a smile; she began to drink. Yavena had always liked her tea plain. It needed nothing added to it. "So Eld… what brought up that topic about whether I liked younger men on our way back here this evening? Did Olou start trying to brag about Petra again?"

He chuckled, but shook his head.

Yavena groaned. "Don't tell me he's starting to try that shit with _me._ "

"No, no, it's nothing like that. Although you know how Olou is…"

"I keep telling him that he's not intimidating or attractive when he imitates the Captain, he's just an idiot," Yavena sighed, rolling her eyes. She set the cup upon the table and crossed her arms. "I wish he'd cut it out. For a while, he was starting to get much better about it…"

A twisted smile took over Eld's face. He took a sip of his tea. "Well… he seems to think there's a good reason to imitate Levi nowadays."

A derisive laugh exited Yavena's mouth as she grabbed her teacup again. "Oh, does he? Tell me, what is it this time? The Captain told a funny joke? He's just so similar to Olou? They had a delightful romantic moment under the moon?"

"No, he… thinks that there's something going on between you."

Yavena spit out her tea. "He _what?_ "

Eld chuckled a little at the effusive reaction before saying, "You heard me."

"Well that's—that's just ridiculous," Yavena heard herself say. She took another sip of her tea, though she couldn't help noticing that her hands were shaking. "Why on earth would he think _that?_ "

He shrugged and took another careful drink.

Yavena found herself frowning; there was nothing 'going on' between her and the Captain. It was an absurd idea, not to mention _completely_ unfounded—

But the next thought that ran through Yavena's head was that whatever happened next, she had to be extra careful. The last thing that she needed was for rumors to begin spreading beyond the squad, befouling her name, making a number of people question whether or not she belonged with the Special Operations group…

"No wonder Levi calls him 'Air Head,'" she heard herself mutter—more to comfort herself than to make conversation with Eld.

She was rewarded with the ghost of a smile; then, he asked, "Do you have any ideas on what happened with those Titans today? I heard some of the Wall Garrison soldiers talking—the officers are inspecting everyone's omni-directional gear, even those in the Cadet Corps."

Yavena's eyes went wide. "The Cadet Corps? Really?"

He nodded.

Of course, thanks to what Commander Erwin had told her earlier on in the day, Yavena had a few thoughts on what might have happened. But she knew that she could not tell Eld of her suspicions—if she said too much, she could potentially let something slip, and betray Erwin's trust. That was the _last_ thing she wanted to do.

So all that Yavena said was, "I don't know who did it, but I think they knew they weren't doing us any favors when they killed Sawney and Beane."

Eld groaned exaggeratedly, letting her know that he was joking when he said, "Don't tell me the Section-Commander's got you naming Titans now, too. One Titan expert is terrifying enough, thank you."

"Oh, shut up," Yavena laughed, slugging him in the arm. "I hate Titans! You know this. Hange just wears off on me sometimes, is all."

"That's fair. But you think this was intentional? That they meant to halt our progress, stop our research?"

Yavena bought herself time by reaching for her teacup again and draining it. She knew that talking to anyone about this matter was dangerous… after all, Erwin was only certain of a few select people: herself, Miche, Hange, Levi, a few others…

But she could not bring herself to lie to Eld. "Yes, Eld, I think that it was intentional."

Now _he_ was the one frowning. "Me too."

They were quiet for another moment. Yavena walked over towards the kitchen countertops and refilled her cup before turning around and standing across from Eld. She leaned against the back-counter, watching him closely as he began to stare off into space.

Eld had that look; the one that said he was in a far-off place. It was one he wore often when contemplating strategies, or when he was reading a book in the library. It almost seemed as though he was disassociating… beginning to lose himself entirely, to be in a space far away from his body.

That was something that a lot of the soldiers in the Scout Regiment did. Especially the newer soldiers, the ones that hadn't yet learned how to block out the nightmares that everyone would witness beyond the Wall. Their eyes would go blank, and whenever someone would call their name or startle them, they would jolt horribly back into reality.

Yavena remembered how bad the nightmares had been when first she'd joined the Scout Regiment. Even though she'd killed a Titan on her first mission, there had been so much blood and death. For almost six months, she'd had a recurring night terror at least two or three times every week—one where a comrade right next to her would be plucked off of his horse and brought to a Titan's mouth.

The horrible _crunch_ of his bones had always made her wake in a cold sweat.

"I don't understand why," Eld burst out, making Yavena jerk somewhat and look back to him. "Why would anyone do that? They know what we're up against. They've seen it now—everyone has, thanks to what happened at Trost. It doesn't make sense…"

Yavena nodded in agreement but elected to say nothing. If she were to say that humankind had an enemy inside the Walls… Eld was too smart to let such a comment slide past him.

"I'm hoping that Hange will be able to capture more Titans soon, now that they've received advanced versions of all of their traps," Yavena said. She thought it would be smart to begin steering the conversation away from what had happened in Trost… just in case. "Commander Erwin will likely approve it right away this time."

"Do you think we'll be enlisted to help again?"

"No. Our current charge and top priority is keeping watch over Eren. Hange will have to be on their own this time, with whatever assistance their research team can give them."

Before Eld could respond, the door to the kitchens opened. In walked Captain Levi, who nodded curtly to them both as he approached the countertop and began to fill one of the other kettles with water. Although his back was turned to them, Levi still said, "Tomorrow we will scout around the area. I suspect there are a few Titans around these acres of forest."

Yavena frowned. "Should we establish watch, just in case?"

"Olou is already keeping watch now, and Petra will take over tomorrow mid-morning. Neither of them will be accompanying us on purging the area."

A hush fell over the room. Yavena and Eld exchanged looks; she knew they were both thinking the same thing. They were wondering if Eren were to go with them—and if so, whether he would be allowed to utilize his Titan ability so they could see if he could retain control over that form.

As if sensing their questions, the Captain said, "Eren will need to train first before I will allow him to turn into a Titan. He will assist us in the traditional sense."

Eld exhaled somewhat, a symbol of obvious relief. But Yavena struggled to keep a frown from appearing upon her face.

The kettle began to boil, signaling that it was time to take it off of the fire. Levi prepared his tea—once again with a half-spoon of sugar, although Yavena knew it was the silliest thing to note—and turned around to face them. "I can tell you're bothered by my orders, Yavena."

"Can you?" she asked, admittedly surprised. "You're getting better at that."

"I've always been good at it."

She smirked and shook her head, muttering, "Aren't you humble," before sighing. "All right, yes, I'm a little bothered by them. If we don't allow Eren to transform into a Titan before our next reconnaissance mission, he won't begin to learn how to control his other form. And if he doesn't start learning this… won't we risk losing him entirely? It is up to Dhalis Zachary whether he stays with us, after all."

Yavena could tell that Eld was startled by her disagreeing with the Captain's orders, but at the moment, his shock was the least of her concerns.

"You're right, of course. But we have approximately thirty days before the next mission, and I'd rather have Hange alongside us when Eren first attempts to transform. They may be able to assist him in ways that the rest of us could not—and I'd rather not be forced to kill Eren less than a week after he's been placed in my custody."

She chuckled darkly at this and walked over to the countertop for some more tea. Levi raised an eyebrow at her approach, as if questioning why she was daring to reach for some of _his_ tea that he had made.

"What?" she asked, returning his raised eyebrow. "You can share."

"Tch."

But Levi did not argue further on the matter, and so, with a complacent grin, Yavena got her well-deserved refill and flitted back to the other side of the room to stand by Eld again.

"You're going to drown in that stuff one day," Eld said, grinning somewhat.

Yavena raised the cup in cheers—he clinked his against hers. "Then let that be my idyllic death."

Eld laughed so hard that he almost choked.

For a little while longer, the three of them remained in the kitchens, quietly enjoying the tea and company. Yavena found herself standing by the window before long, glancing back up at the stars. The same pang of longing filled her chest again as her eyes landed upon the star named Soldier's Guide… the only one her mother had taught her.

"My sister used to record the constellations," Eld said, glancing at Yavena from the corner of his eye. "She loved them."

A spark lit Yavena's face. "Do you know any?"

Unfortunately, Eld just shook his head. "No, I don't. Mira tried to teach me a few, but I was stubborn. I'd had no interest in them."

Yavena looked back outside, taking care to keep her slight disappointment hidden. Her voice seemed far away—even to herself—as she wistfully said, "Every time I look up at those stars, I wonder what they really are, how many of them are out there… what their names and patterns are. But I don't think I'll ever solve _those_ mysteries. Not without my mother around, anyway."

Footsteps echoed against the stone of the floor, muffling themselves when they walked over carpet. When Yavena looked beside her, she just barely managed to swallow her surprise at seeing Levi standing next to her, and not Eld.

He opened the window and gestured loosely towards one of the stars above. "Isabel was obsessed with them. Her favorite was the White Ward, to the south of Soldier's Guide."

Yavena glanced back outside, struggling to find Soldier's Guide. The night was slightly foggy, which made it difficult to see—but after squinting around for a number of moments, she finally located it. Then, to the south… glimmering a golden-white color was another star; one that had caught Yavena's eye on a few occasions, but one that she had never even guessed a name for.

A warm feeling passed through her body as she looked at it. Only the previous evening had she been standing at the same window, wishing that her mother could've taught her one last thing—one last lesson.

But her mother was dead. Vanessa Verman had died so Yavena could live… and if she could not have her mother teach her the constellations, then the least that she could do was find someone else who could. And if there was not one person who could do that, then Yavena would ask around and find many people.

"I feel as though Isabel and I would've gotten along well," Yavena heard herself say.

As soon as the words exited her mouth, she tensed, realizing how badly her comment could be taken. It seemed harmless enough—not to mention that Levi had spoken of his late friend first—but still she worried. When, however, Yavena finally dared to glance back at the Captain, she noted that he didn't look angry at all. If anything, there was a rare tranquility in his stance; in the way he was glancing out of the window.

"It's possible," he said at last. "More likely she would've followed you everywhere, and annoyed the shit out of you."

Yavena could not help but smile; she knew, without Levi saying so, that this was something his friend had done to _him._ "That means she cared."

Levi looked away and began to walk back to the countertop. Yavena bit the inside of her lip. _Now_ she'd done it…

But once again, she was wrong; she had worried herself for nothing. Levi simply grabbed two more cups, filled them with tea—even though this was Yavena's fourth cup of the night, she could easily drink four more—and brought them back over to the window. Yavena took hers with great care, uneager to have more hot tea spilled over her person due to her own recklessness. Only once it was in her hands did she raise an eyebrow and say, "I already had a cup, you know."

"It's dirty."

"Clean Freak," she sighed, although it was difficult not to smile.

He paid the nickname no mind, instead choosing to look back out of the window.

Yavena was about to ask him how far they would scout for recon in the morning when she heard footsteps. She turned to the door, expecting to see Gunther or Eren enter, and blinked upon realizing that Eld was leaving.

"You aren't just going to sneak out without saying good night, are you?" she asked reprovingly.

Eld turned back around with half of a smile. "I thought it was about time to head to bed, seeing as we'll be back to killing Titans tomorrow."

While this much was certainly true, there was something else that he was not saying. Yavena could clearly see the hint of a melancholy expression upon his face, despite how hard he was attempting to hide it. Concerned, she said, "Take care of yourself, Eld. Sleep well. I'll see you in the morning."

This seemed to make him smile, for real that time. Only after washing out his cup of tea did he nod towards Yavena and their Captain and exit the kitchens.

As soon as Eld was gone, Levi lowered his voice and said, "I trust you did not tell him anything that Erwin entrusted us with this afternoon."

"No, I did not," Yavena replied. She looked into his eyes not for herself, but for him—so that he could see she was telling the truth. "All I said was it was obvious killing the Titans had been no accident. Anyone could've figured _that_ out."

He returned his attentions to the far-off skies outside. The fog was beginning to lessen, which made it easier to glance at the numerous stars. Yavena found herself staring—there had always been something so safe about the nighttime, and not just because Titans were unable to move during the hours of darkness. She had always interpreted the stars as some kind of message in the sky; a message that said no matter how dark things became, there would always be something to help one see the path ahead.

Yavena sighed and shifted her weight. She knew that it was a reach, and that very few others would probably agree with her looking for reassurances in something so far away. But it was something that made her feel better, something _good_ in a world full of Titans and unimaginable horror—wasn't finding the beauty in such a world what mattered?

"It's hard to believe there might be people who wish to see us fall to the Titans," Yavena heard herself murmur. Friendship was one of the few beautiful things in her life: with Hange, Levi, Eld, Petra, Gunther, Eren, Olou. To think that something so comforting could've just been a disguise the whole time made her insides turn to ice. "They might even be people that we considered friends…"

Levi looked at her askance before replying, "Keep yourself guarded. Don't let betrayal shake you."

She exhaled through her nose; a pitiful attempt to laugh. "Not all of us are as good at closing ourselves off from emotion as you are, Levi."

"Then you will have to learn. People will attempt to take advantage of you if you do not."

Yavena took another sip of tea, shivering as the chilly night air drafted into the castle. Summer was well and truly over; autumn was arriving, the trees outside reflecting this change by slowly turning reds and oranges, with other leaves falling to the ground. After one last look outside of the window, Yavena closed the glass panes again and stood against the wall, across from Levi. Cocking her head sideways, she asked, "Closing yourself off so others could never take advantage of you… was that something you had to teach yourself, too?"

"Yes. It kept me alive in the Underground District."

This didn't surprise her. Yavena had not heard much of the Underground District, but what she _had_ heard was… difficult. People struggled to make livings for themselves so far underground. Most who lived there would never see the sun in their lifetimes. The Military Police kept a tight and suffocating hold on all of the civilians, their perceptions of those who lived in the Underground District warped by the few who were thieves or mercenaries.

Yavena set down her teacup and rubbed her arms, suddenly aware of how drafty it had gotten in the kitchens. She was about to go grab her over-shirt and jacket from the backs of the chairs in the hope they were dry when Levi said, "Here." He took off his cloak and handed it out without looking at her.

She stared at it for a moment. "I could just go get—"

"Just take it."

Biting the inside of her cheek so she wouldn't smile, Yavena took the green cloak from his hands. She swept it around her shoulders, feeling much warmer… though likely for a different reason than the fact that she had an extra layer of cloth protecting her from the cold.

Sensing that she had to explain herself now, she sighed, "When I entered the kitchens, I ran into Eld—literally. I spilled tea all over my uniform… had to wash it out in the bucket just there." She pointed out the bucket in question with her foot.

Levi raised an eyebrow. "If it happens again, I would suggest you keep your over-shirt on. Eld was either too petrified, too pleased, or too polite to say it, but—"

"Oh, fuck me," Yavena gasped. She crossed her arms tightly and turned away from the Captain, feeling her face turn a bright red. "Was it bad?"

"No, but it's still lucky you wear your hair in front of your shoulders."

She sighed and slapped a hand to her forehead. She'd been talking with Eld for all that time, and the Captain too, and neither of them had pointed out her silhouette until _now._ Hiding her face with her hands, she said, "If I didn't know Eld so well, I might just accuse him of doing it on purpose… if it were Olou, I would've _known_ it was on purpose…"

"Remember there's a possibility that Eld isn't who you believed him to be."

Yavena turned back around, gaping somewhat. "You don't actually think that he could be—"

"I do not. But to ignore the possibility is stupid and reckless. We have an enemy inside our forces: the _real_ enemy. And based on what Erwin said, the only person in the squad that I can trust for now is you."

Levi did not stand around to revel in the shocked look upon Yavena's face. He instead walked back to the countertop and cleaned the two teacups in his hands before heading towards the doorway. Without looking back at her, he said, "Good night, Mystery," and walked out.

Yavena stood, frozen to the ground. She didn't know how to feel: happy, uncertain, utterly embarrassed—or perhaps a mix of all three.

But she knew there was nothing to be gained by standing around. The majority of Squad Levi had another big day ahead of them. So she washed out her dishes and placed them overhead to dry, grabbed her still-damp shirt and jacket, and left the kitchens as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, I thank you for reading! <3 That's all I really had to say this time lol, short and sweet. 
> 
> Take care of yourselves! Have a great day! :)


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